Kami no Hoshi
by Leader of the crazies
Summary: We all know the story of Naruto, the dead last who became someone worth following, but what if Naruto was never truly honest with his so called 'friends? Maybe hiding behind that orange jumpsuit is a person different to the one everyone thought they knew... Fem!Naru
1. Let's tease a murderous demon!

Kami No Hoshi

Chapter 1- Let's tease a murderous demon!

Ok, so this is the first fanfic that I've ever written, if not the first that I've ever published, and I'm aiming for around 70k. This is based on the fact that a) Naruto and Kyuubi have a good relationship and b) Jiraiya trains Naruto from the ages of 8-11. Also, be aware that Naruto is very strong, so please, constructive criticism welcome but no flames! I have warned you J

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Naruto (apart from in my dreams) and I'm only going to put this once, so no-one sue me!

Here goes nothing!

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><p><strong>The shadowy shapes crept closer and closer, surrounding the young Naruto as she lay paralyzed with fear. She could see them all, all of the dark figures that carried a weapon to use against her, something to hurt her with. There were shinobis, with kunai held diagonally in front, and civilians with weapons that ranged from knives to candle stick holders, bottles to razors but they all hurt the same when they hit. Hit her. Hit her frantically, weapons flashing towards and away from her like lightning, figures attacking flickering from serpent to human, to demon, to serpent in an unending cycle. <strong>

**She knew that they were attacking to kill, to beat her to death. But she didn't care. Couldn't find the emotion in herself as he lay there listlessly, no longer afraid, just listening to their words cutting sharper and deeper than any dagger, piercing her very soul with hatred.**

**What had she done to deserve this hell? She was just like any other, polite (ish), happy (on the outside), friendly (always), helpful (well... every so often) orphan but they beat her black and blue, both mentally and physically. If they would only tell her why, why did they hate her, why did they do this then she could live with the shame of knowing she deserved it. At least it wouldn't hurt this much.**

** She was alone though, so alone with the pain... then suddenly she wasn't. It should have been so much better now, but now Naruto was just a silent onlooker, unable to control anything that she did, as much as she tried. And try she did, for the ones in the centre of the crowd, lying in pools of blood, were her only friends; Itachi-nii and ero-sennin. Again and again she tried to go closer only for her own body to rebel against her and hold her trapped. **

**Trapped until finally the crowd dispersed and figures drifted away like mist, leaving her alone to run to her precious people who lay surrounded by their own blood, Itachi-nii's pale skin at odd angles, showing broken bones, and ero-sennin's tear marks now made of real blood and scars, traced down the length of his cheek. They were unresponsive. Even as she touched them. Even as she healed the physical wounds. Even as she checked for a pulse. Evan as she found empty space. The cold, dead silence mocked him as they lay dead in front of her very eyes. Because she, Naruto, was the monster who had killed them.**

Naruto bolted upright, gasping for air as unbidden tears streaked down whiskered cheeks. She was okay. They were alive, and she wasn't alone. Kyuu-chan had revealed herself, and looked after her and she was safe and they were alive, she knew it, they had to be- stop. Breathe. Exhaling slowly, she calmed down.

She hated that dream with a fiery passion because it reminded her that the two of the only people she loved, her two precious people, could die at any moment (the life of a shinobi was hard after all, even if those people happened to be the most infamous missing nin in Konoha right now and one of the legendary sannin) or be dead right now. And she wouldn't know, as the Hokage would be the only one told, and Naruto wouldn't know about their fate until at least a week later, when someone happened to mention it to her.

It was even worse to think that she might have killed them herself, as she knew she was capable of. The one time that Naruto lost control of her youkai, she had awoken from the bloodlust that Kyuubi had been eventually able to suppress to find her perverted godfather unconscious against the wall, with a hole in his chest gushing blood. Sure, she had healed it but she had come so close to losing him... and so she had promised herself that she would get stronger, enough to protect them from dangers, including her.

Naruto thought that it had worked as well, since she was now Kage level on ninjutsu, genjutsu and fuuinjutsu, whilst she was high jounin level at taijutsu, and at least Anbu captain level at her archery. She was still getting stronger though, even whilst she had to pretend to be an idiot to graduate to genin! What a high level!

She laughed to herself quietly as she pondered what her 'friends' would do if she ever gave up the mask. Probably take her to an adult, who would claim that she was possessed and execute her. It was almost enough to make Naruto lose her cheery mood...

**"Kit?"**

**"Morning Kyuu-chan!"**... but not quite. She, the prank 'king' of Konoha, found it a fun idea to insult and tease the demon trapped inside of her. Let it not be said that she was completely sane.

**"Kyuu-chan, are you there?"**At this the Kyuubi stifled a second groan, the first being the previous time that Naruto had called her Kyuu-chan. She was the great Kyuubi no Yoko, who could level mountains with one swipe of a tail, and she was reduced to a mere-

**"Yeah, I got it Kyuu,"** She blinked. Oh. She had been projecting her thoughts to Naruto again, and said girl had just insulted her! Her! She was the great Kyuubi no-

**"Kyuu-chan,"** And there she went again.

Inside the mindscape, Kyuubi rolled her eyes, and quickly looked around for something to get her blonde container back with. She saw it and smirked.

**"Hey Kit,"**

**"Hey, Kyuu-chan,"** Naruto smiled angelically, knowing how riled up it made her tenant. But not this time. Oh no, now she had something to get her container back with.

**"I could have sworn that the academy started assigning teams 10 minutes ago, but if you don't want to go..."**

**"Damnit Kyuu! Why couldn't you have woken me up?"** Naruto replied frantically, hopping across the room to put on her socks as her trousers fell down, black material revealing orange underpants and a wide variety of seals. Grumpily the girl pulled it back up again.

To see her seals was something that this village would never do. For the amount that they had ridiculed her and Kyuubi, she was not going to fight for Konoha. She would fight for herself and the three that she loved, her three nakama, Jiraiya-sensei, Kyuubi-chan and Itachi-nii. She would protect them with her life.

Done with the morbid thoughts for now, the long haired blonde grabbed her kunai pouch, fastened her poison and battered sword inside her seals, sealed away her backpack filled with emergency things if she needed to run for any reason and quickly performed the daily genjutsu.

It transformed her lean muscle, long hair, stunning face, rather large breasts (for her age) and stylish clothes into a flabby, short boy with short hair and a babyish face. The new (and only Naruto, if you asked anyone at the academy) Naruto walked determinedly towards the window.

'I will make my nakama proud' Naruto thought, before she hopped over the windowsill, covered herself in her favourite invisibility genjutsu and jumped to the next rooftop to reach the academy.

Maybe today would be the day that Naruto finally could stop pretending; today could be the day when Naruto met more precious people that she would stay in the village for... she didn't know, but a girl could always dream...


	2. Genin is such a high rank

Chapter 2- Genin is such a high rank

The day was finally here, the day that the blonde had been anticipating for nearly all of her life. The day of the Genin exams. It had gone rather differently to how she had always envisioned this morning going; she had overslept and charged out of her 'home' as fast as she could instead of the leisurely morning spent practicing jutsus over and over again, but hey. She could manage. She didn't have three awesome senseis for nothing!

And maybe, just maybe, if she was put on a team with people she could trust then she could let go of the mask. It had served her well and faithfully all of these years, but she was sick and tired of it. Naruto sighed at the thought of it. Like she would be so lucky to have kind teammates who would put up with her real self.

Oh, if the rest of the idiots at the academy didn't notice the powerful, smart, depressed girl behind her genjutsu and faked self, then what was to say a jounin could? Even the ANBU who had 'watched' her since she was little had never noticed the genjutsu that Naruto had been holding since the age of six. Imbeciles. And they called themselves elite?

They couldn't even catch her after any of her pranks. Iruka was the only one who could catch her (well, excluding nakama of course) but maybe she should let the 'elite shinobi' of Konoha off a little... she did let the sensei catch him after all.

Naruto had decided long ago that Iruka was one of the best ones in the village. Sure, she knew that the man disliked him and Kyuu-chan-

**"Hey! I heard that," **

–sorry, the 'great and powerful Kyuubi no Yoko' (insert eye roll) but at least he kept tight control over that. Yes, he was good.

Unlike his silver-haired colleague, Mizuki, who made it his job to annoy and thwart the young jinchuriki at every point. It had considerably soured this last year at the academy.

But today, not even Mizuki could wipe the smile off the blonde's face, even as she swung into her seat as the bell rang for the start of class and Iruka-san (not sensei; that was for people who she respected and learnt something from) glared at her. She smiled sheepishly but brightly and reached for a pen, smiling joyfully all the while.

On the outside, that was. Inwardly, Naruto and Kyuubi watched sadly as Iruka's hand twitched ever so slightly towards his weapons pouch, where a ninja's kunai and shuriken were kept, as Naruto's hand stretched out into her bag.

Really. What was she going to do, chuck a kunai at someone in the middle of class and risk being watched, or worse, interrogated. Whilst Naruto knew that she could withstand nearly all forms of torture, having lived in the Red light district most of her short life, she had no particular desire to test if there were any that she couldn't withstand.

For now she was happy being a genin or a genin until she could leave the village...

**"Kit! Test!"**

**"Oh! Right. Thanks, Kyuu-chan!"** Naruto had got so distracted with her thoughts that she had missed the start of the test. She was going to pass this time. Nothing would stop her!

**"Well of course not. This is your last day here, for certain, because tomorrow we are meeting our team. You will pass, definitely! I'm not letting you fail this one. The only reason you couldn't get the last ones were because those idiotic villagers injured you so much you couldn't do any taijutsu, then that teme of a sensei Mizuki did all 20 of those genjutsu on that written paper! You'll pass with flying colours!"**

**"Umm...Kyuu-chan?"**

**"Yes?"** she growled back, still panting from her massive speech.

**"Thanks, but I have a test,"**

**"Oh. Right. Sorry kit, I'll leave you alone,"** Naruto laughed in her head and Kyuubi slowly backed off to have a snooze. Picking up her pencil, the hidden girl began to write again.

Three hours later Naruto ran out of the examination room, jumping for joy. She had done it! She was a genin! The last time that she had been this excited was when ero-sennin had taken her and Itachi-nii to buy her a new jumpsuit! It had been whilst she was a boy, obviously, and whilst she was very close with the two of them, only Itachi-nii knew her secret. Ero-kyofu...Naruto just didn't feel comfortable with him knowing, especially as perverted as he was with girls, so only Itachi-nii knew that she was a girl.

It was her secret to share with whoever she liked. And currently that was Itachi-nii. Although, if she pondered the question a handsome red head her age drifted to mind. If he ever noticed that she like him... then they could kiss and she would finally feel those soft lips crashing against her own, feel strong arms embrace her petite frame and keep her safe from the world, feel a body pressed against her own that fit like a puzzle piece...

No. Bad idea. Don't get distracted. You still have training to do! Kyuubi snickered as she saw Naruto's thoughts.

**"Ooh. Didn't know you were that mature. Seems a bit early to me!"** Naruto blushed at Kyuubi's comments and retorted

**"Oh yeah? Well ha! I'm a genin now. Besides, not like he'll ever notice me as anything romantic anyway..." **she trailed off dolefully.

**"Hey, don't be sad kit. It's fine! Maybe you'll see him soon... you never know,"**

**"Yeah, you're right Kyuu-chan,"** Naruto mustered up a fake smile and walked over to the swing. It wasn't technically hers, but for all the people that used it, it might well have been.

Ever since she sat on it on the first day, no one else ever came near it. Not after their parents had got to them anyway.

However, Naruto still liked to sit on the swing and it was a perfect place for gossip! When Kyuu-chan enhanced her senses, her hearing was good enough to reach the whole way across the playground. Usually this was a blessing, but today...

"Look, it's the demon brat,"

"He passed, did he? I bet the demon cheated,"

"He got more than he deserves, that little, disgusting, Kyu-"

"Haruhi! You're not meant to talk about it!"

"Who cares anyway? Why doesn't that demon just go and die? He could do the world a favour,"

"Don't worry, I agree..." The girls that had been 'discreetly' whispering about her walked off, still arguing. Naruto lowered her head, looking at her lap as blonde hair fell down and made a short curtain between her and the rest of the world. She didn't want the world and his wife to see her cry after all.

**"Kit? Are you okay?"** asked her best friend worriedly.

**"I'm fine,"** responded a trembling voice. It cracked slightly at the end, and Kyuubi quickly replied

**"Come on kit. Let's go home. I have a present for you..." **she said in a sing-song voice.

**"Ok Kyuu-chan. I'm coming,"** Naruto whispered, before standing up and running like a lit rocket back to her house. Carefully disabling the genjutsu trap, Naruto walked into the messy flat and sat down hard on her bed.

**"Come on girl. You know the rules, don't you. Conceal"**

**"Before I feel, I know,"** As Naruto spoke, she poured a bit of chakra into her home-made seal and set up a genjutsu around her, hiding her real actions from anyone looking in or coming in and creating the image of a happy blonde boy with ramen. Afterwards, she summoned her customary 30 clones.

"10 on fuuinjutsu, 10 on ninjutsu, 5 on chakra control and 5 on chakra sensing please," she asked her clones pleadingly. They all obeyed silently and let the young jinchuriki save herself the embarrassment of crying in front of herself , save one, and walked off to their designated training areas.

The last one stayed with her, and one of its friends quickly performed the kage bunshin technique to fill the gap in their group. This one crouched down next to where she had sat, setting up sound barriers around the flat (as was her normal job but nothing was normal anymore until this routine started to become all too normal in a world where she prided herself on surprises) almost controlling her emotions without any tears and only the slightest bit of trembling and said to her

"It's ok Naruto-dono. We're here for you, and so is Kyuu-chan. It's okay to cry now, we're safe here"

And that was it. As her clone's sympathetic hand placed itself gently on a shoulder, she surged forwards and hugged herself tightly. Naruto 2 hugged back and comforted her as tears trickled quietly down tanned skin.

"Shh, it's ok, they can't hurt you again. We have you now, they can't get here. We'll all be fine,"

Naruto said nothing, only whimpered and choked slightly on a muffled sob. No weaknesses. Wasn't that the rule? Shinobi rule number 25: a shinobi never shows his emotions. Screw the rule.

Naruto could make her own ones along with her loved ones. Bitter thoughts filled her mind as village insults drifted towards her, the most prominent being all alone. Alone. Always. No, no, no, now she had Itachi-nii and ero-sennin. Right? They... loved her. And she loved them.

**"Don't forget about me, poor little kit. I love you too,"**

And that was almost good enough for Naruto. She couldn't have the love of the one she loved as more than family, but she could have this; a family who loved her. Tears stopped streaking raw cheeks as the blonde remembered her family and nakama.

She fell asleep in the arms of her kind clone, and into her mindscape where the comfort of her best friend and surrogate mum waited for her.


	3. Unexpected serendipity

Chapter 3- Unexpected Serendipity

Inside Naruto's mindscape, she smiled and hugged Kyuu-chan. Kyuubi laughed at her face as she stood up.

**"You look like a tanuki! Like a certain jinchuriki I could mention..." **She wiggled her eyebrows at the young blonde as she was helped up.

**"Yeah, yeah. I thought you had a present for me, or was that just a way to trick me into coming in here so you could tease me?"**

**"Oh, don't worry kit. I have a present for you alright. Three in fact!"**

**"PRESENT!" **Naruto said/yelled. She loved presents! Even if they were only occasionally, it meant that people cared and thought about her and she could live with that.

**"Ok, so you know how you just passed the genin exam?"**

**"Kyuu-chan, how could I forget?"** retorted the girl with a roll of her eyes.

**"Well, I thought that it was time you had a way for your skills to be useful!"**

**"Oi! They are useful!"**

**"Yes, but this way you can actually use them without blowing your cover..."**

**"Fine, I'll bite. What did you get me, especially considering you can't leave my mindscape?"**

**"Tch, don't remind me. Anyway, your first gift, here,"** Kyuubi chucked a small satchel to Naruto. Curiously, she caught it out of the way and found...

**"Kyuu-chan! What do you expect me to spend this on!"**

A hell of a lot of money.

**"Well, first, before I answer your question, I need to give you the second gift,"**

**"Go on then!"** exclaimed an exuberant girl.

**"Okay, repeat after me. Saru, Tora, Ryu, Saru, Usagi, Saru!" Naruto **copied the handseals that Kyuubi had done, and was shocked when her money bag disappeared.

**"Hey! Kyuu-chan! You killed the money**!" Shaking her head, Kyuubi replied

**"No, silly kit, it's been sent to your world. You can use that jutsu to put things in here if you like as well. Just make sure you keep it organised!"**

**"Awesome! Thanks Kyuu-chan"** she grinned.

**"Wait, what was the money for anyway?"**

**"Well, I think it's time to buy you some decent shinobi clothes. After all, you can hardly be seen as the Kami no Hoshi wearing those things, can you?"** Naruto was silent for a moment then turned her head towards Kyuubi.

"What do you mean?" she asked, forgetting completely about her earlier tears.

**"I mean that with this money, we are going to go buy you some kick-ass clothes, and then with your third present, you are going to have an alter-ego!"**

"What, like superman?" Naruto asked sarcastically. Kyuubi caught the sarcasm but decided to ignore it.

**"Yes! Just like superman! Or like me and Kurama..."** She trailed herself off. Naruto noticed the slip and squeezed Kyuubi tightly.

**"Don't worry Kyuu-chan. Let's go find me some badass clothes!"** She didn't want to upset the kitsune, and bringing up memories of _her _alter ego Kurama wouldn't help. The blonde knew that Kyuubi hated it now, ever since that stupid jounin Toji Yami found out about her true nature whilst she and her family had been living a peaceful life pretending to be human, and had killed her kits and husband.

In a fit of rage Kyuubi had attacked the Konoha to get to the jounin, but ended up with Naruto. However, now wasn't the time to think on past evils; Kyuubi was saying something!

**"Of course kit, you're right. We need to be done before dawn, so hurry along! You get the third present after** we get back," Smiling, the jinchuriki left the mindscape and grabbed the money.

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><p>Finally out of the village, Naruto released her henge and smiled. She had forgotten how free she felt outside of the glares and fake friends; it had been forever since she last did this. Spontaneously, the container decided to do something like this more often.<p>

**"So then kit. Where are we going?"** Kyuubi asked, breaking the peace that Naruto had been enjoying. Grumbling as she concentrated on her mindscape, she replied to Kyuubi.

**"Uno... Suna. I don't want to get caught without my henge in the village,"** Kyuubi sniggered.

**"Of course. Not like there's anyone there that you want to see in Suna..." **she hinted. Naruto blushed a brilliant crimson.

**"No Kyuubi-baka, I just want clothes!"**

**"Or no clothes you mean..."**

"No! I don't want to do that with Gaara! He's my friend, nothing else, however much I wish it!"

Birds fluttered away. Oops. In her anger at Kyuubi, Naruto had accidently started talking (or shouting) out loud. Blushing even more, Naruto hmphed and jumped faster. Kyuubi smirked from the confines of her cage. _Gotcha._

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><p>At the edge of a forest, a young teen sat playing with the sand by his feet when all of a sudden a shout came from the forest. Automatically, sand flew up to protect him from the threat, but all that happened was a loud, familiar voice shouted<p>

"! I don't want to do that with Gaara! He's my friend, nothing else, however much I wish it!"...that was Naruto.

He had met the excitable blonde two years ago when she had been out scouting for a decent training place. He had been walking around the desert when he felt a massive spike of youkai and went to see what it was.

When he had arrived at the waterfall that the youkai came from, he was immediately enchanted by what he saw. It had been Naruto, a fellow jinchuriki, and she had been dancing on the water surface in nothing more than a two piece bikini.

Nothing had ever looked more beautiful to the affection-deprived boy than that sight of Naruto dancing with her long hair glowing in the faint moonlight and hips moving to the beat that only she could hear.

Of course, she had sensed him too, and after a brief, _friendly_ (no-one else had ever been friendly before) conversation she'd gone home and so had Gaara.

Since that fateful meeting, he'd only seen her a handful of times but had fallen hard for her. Keeping it from everyone else was easy, but there had been a few close encounters when she had left him standing on the roof with a dreamy smile on his face, and his siblings had come up to see where he had gone. It had been hard but the red head had changed his expression in the nick of time.

Talking of time, he wanted to meet her again before she had to go.

Setting off with yet another smile (they were around in abundance whenever _she_ was near) he followed the noise.

* * *

><p>Naruto glanced around the trees. There was nothing she could see, but there was <em>something <em>there, tickling the edge of her senses. There! It was there again!

Frowning, she set all of her chakra sensing abilities towards the faint chakra she could feel, and blushed heavily when she realised that it was Gaara's chakra _and he was headed towards her. _Kami, he hadn't heard her shout earlier had he? She really hoped not.

Smiling happily at the thought of seeing her crush again, she stopped and waited on the tree. After what seemed like an age (but was really only a few minutes) the girl spotted the fellow jinchuriki's tell-tale red hair move into the clearing.

Grinning at him in welcome, she hugged him. He stiffened and blushed as he felt her breasts squish against his chest, and she blushed as she felt a warm arm hug her in return. As was becoming normal recently, the sand made no move to attack, sensing that she meant no harm.

It was nice, to be able to trust someone not to hurt him, Gaara decided.

"So. What was that about wanting to be more than friends?" he whispered to her. Naruto shivered as his breath tickled the back of her neck.

"Uno... "

"Naruto," Gaara said seriously. She pulled back and looked him in the eye as his serious tone caught her attention.

"Whatever you are going to answer, please be certain of it before telling me," he told her, knowing that he wouldn't be able to stand the heartbreak if she lied to him.

Urged on by Kyuubi in the back of her mind, Naruto gazed at him, taking in everything she could see. She saw handsome, chiselled features, unsoftened by the small smile that usually graced his lips, a smooth forehead, brilliant eyes and pain at the thought of losing her to anyone else. In her normal, split-second decision, Naruto smiled.

She leaned forwards and kissed him.

And there went most of her night.

* * *

><p>4 hours later, as the sun kissed the edge of the horizon on its way to the sky, a weary but ecstatic Naruto walked in. She had spent the night on a romantic date with her <em>boyfriend<em> (she loved that word now) and had bought clothes with him, laughing at how he had reacted when he put on her final choice of outfit.

He had walked over to her, put his hands on her head and said

"You. Are. Beautiful," enunciated with kisses. And a blush, obviously, because Gaara was Gaara and she wouldn't have it any other way.

The future suddenly looked brighter with Gaara by her side.


	4. Hokage? Nah, let's surpass them!

A/N thank you so much to everyone who reviewed! I tried to change the bits that everyone said, and I hope that it makes more sense now. Like I said, first fanfic I've ever written (although I have published some others as well) so please review and tell me how i can improve and what i am (hopefully) doing well!

Chapter 4- Hokage? Nah, let's surpass them!

Naruto wasn't so much weary as exhausted as she dragged herself into the academy the next day. It was _way _too early to be up in her opinion (although Kyuubi said that she deserved it for staying up until 6 that morning.

Naruto had grumpily replied that she hadn't heard Kyuubi complaining last night, more like egging her on! Kyuubi had replied touché and retreated into the back of her abyss).

She had unfortunately had to cover her amazing new outfit with her normal genjutsu, and although it was solid at least Naruto knew that she had all of her things ready in case she needed to go anywhere.

You never know what might happen when everyone around you hates you.

Shaking her head and irritatedly moving her legs, she entered the classroom. It was full of noise, as per usual, and even from the door way she could hear the squeals of the four fangirls who had passed the test over their 'Sasuke-kun'.

Really! They were kunoichi now; they should act like it.

The two most annoying ones (and how Naruto hoped they wouldn't be on her team) were two girls called Ino and Sakura.

Ino was pretty, and had long blonde hair with blue eyes. She liked to wear a short purple crop top and matching skirt, and had bandages wrapped around her stomach and legs. Her newly gained hitai-ate was blue, and she had tied it around her waist like a belt.

On the other hand, Sakura had a large forehead and long _pink _hair (natural? Naruto wasn't sure) which used to be tied back with a red ribbon, but was now held back by her Konoha hitai-ate. She also wore a plain red dress and blue open toed boots.

And both were arguing at the top of their lungs over Sasuke.

Naruto sighed, and quickly made her way to the back of the classroom before either of them could see her and start attacking her, as they had done for so many years simply because Naruto sometimes saved the broody Uchiha from going deaf by taking the seat next to him, and solving the arguments over who would sit next to the 'oh-so-amazing' boy. Not that anyone ever said thank you of course.

Moaning loudly she thumped her head on the desk and proceeded (or so everyone thought) to fall asleep.

Really, she was talking to Kyuubi who had gone all mystic on her and refused to tell her what her last present was, as she had come back too late to receive it.

Mysterious Kyuubi was annoying.

Although not as annoying as the bloody banshees who were still whining over the empty seat. Idiots.

She had never been more thankful for the well timed arrival of Iruka-san; that was for sure.

Plus they were learning their teams today! It was going to be an interesting day... as soon as Iruka decided to stop droning on about 'what an honour it was to be a shinobi' and he hoped that 'every one of you goes far in this life'.

It took a lot longer than Naruto was expecting to announce the teams. The scarred chuunin went on for about 20 minutes on the importance of honour and blah blah blah.

Really, Naruto had learnt this at the age of 6!

But of course, Iruka's (long and boring) speech had to come to an end at some point, and so the end of the talk found the class sitting on the edge of their seat, eagerly anticipating the announcement of their teams.

"...Team 7 is Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke," Sakura squealed in delight, whilst Sasuke merely grunted. Naruto was dramatically bashing her head on the table, whilst moaning to Kyuu-chan about the unfairness of life.

Kyuubi just told her to shut up and listen. So she did.

"Team 8 is Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino. Team 9 is still in circulation, so Team 10 is Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chouji and Yamanaka Ino. Team 11 is..."

Naruto stopped listening when her friends were called out and wondered what she had done to be put on a team like this. What evil had she performed in order to get this team?

* * *

><p>She was thinking along the lines of slightly more violent actions when their team was the last one left in the room after half an hour. Why, why had Kami cursed her to be stuck with a broody emo and a squealing fan girl? Not to mention the late sensei.<p>

So their sensei had left her alone with them. And now she was bored.

* * *

><p>3 hours later and their sensei still hadn't arrived. Naruto was about ready to die of boredom. There was only so long that Naruto could stand playing (well, mainly losing) Shougi games against Kyuubi, and only so long she could study her teammates.<p>

Sakura didn't seem too bad, but they'd barely spoken a single word to each other. Mainly, the idiotic girl had nagged 'her' Sasuke-kun about a date. She almost felt sorry for him.

She didn't know what was so good about him anyway. Yes, he had smooth navy hair (styled like a chicken's butt), was handsome (or would be if he _smiled_) and wore co-ordinated clothes (never mind that Naruto had more style than him and all of his clothes had the Uchiha symbol on the back anyway). Really, he was more trouble than he was worth.

Unlike this trick though.

She was not going to let her sensei get away with this. The girl stood up and wandered over to the board and picked up the board rubber, ignoring the curious look from Sakura and the one of disdain from Sasuke.

Holding it firmly, she discreetly added a touch of chakra to prevent her sensei from realising it was there and tied a piece of string onto it (never mind that it was her henged ninja wire. She could get a bunshin to collect it later) and hoisted it up onto the edge of the door and its frame.

It was set.

When the door opened, the rubber would fall onto whoever had opened it and shower them in chalk dust. Not to mention that she had added her special seal so that when it touched (hopefully her sensei's) shoulder it would transfer onto them and every time they touched something fluffy for the next hour it would stick to them.

Ha! Served them right for being late.

* * *

><p>Her trap paid off about half an hour later (after 3 and a half hours of waiting!). The door opened wide and she caught a quick glimpse of silver hair and a black mask before powder obscured her view. She started cheering happily<p>

"Yay! I hit sensei! Perfect shot! Goal!"

"Shut up Naruto!" Sakura yelled at the blonde's jubilations.

"But Sakura!" Naruto whined back. The pinkette (A/N is that a word? Well, now it officially is!) opened her mouth to retort but before she could, sensei butted in.

"My first impression is... I hate you. Meet me on the roof in five minutes," he said, then shun shined away in a cloud of smoke that made Naruto and her new found team mates cough and splutter.

**"Show-off," **she muttered to Kyuubi who grinned back.

**"And you're not?"** The blonde's silence only amused the Kyuubi more.

* * *

><p>3 minutes and 47 seconds later, all 4 team members were on the roof. Sakura was panting whilst the other two were barely fazed after the run up the stairs to the top.<p>

Their teacher studied them with a unreadable expression and critical eye, and Naruto took the chance to do the same.

He had poofy silver hair, in spikes across his head and his hitai-ate was pulled down lopsidedly to cover, as Naruto knew from her bingo book, a Sharingan eye. He was quite tall, and had no sword but his posture spoke of ANBU.

The rest of his face was covered by a plain black mask, leaving him with one eye to see and everything else covered. Suddenly he said

"OK... let's begin with some introductions,"

"Why don't you go first sensei?" Sakura asked politely. The others kept quiet.

"Ohh...me? My name is Hatake Kakashi. I have no desire to tell you guys about my likes and dislikes. Dreams for the future? Hmm... I have lots of hobbies," he finished.

Naruto mentally snorted.

**"Well, that was informative,"** she told Kyuubi.

**"Very much so, I agree,"**

**"How stupid does he think we are? That actually gives away a lot of information..."**

**"You are stupid! Well, your mask is..."**

**"Erm... Thanks?"**

**"Welcome. In return I'll tell you that both of your teammates have introduced themselves, and are waiting for you,"**

"NANI!" she shouted out loud. Kakashi raised an eyebrow (well, stretched an eye seeing as you couldn't see his eyebrows).

"We are currently introducing ourselves...?" She blushed.

"I know that! Ok, me... My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I like... cup ramen! What I like even more is the restaurant ramen that Iruka-sensei buys me. I dislike waiting three minutes for the water to boil... and my dream is to surpass the Hokage!"

(A/N I love how in the real thing he doesn't say he wants to be Hokage at first, he just says he wants to surpass the Hokage!)

Everyone looked shocked and sweatdropped at how much she liked ramen.

Kyuubi laughed at her.

Finally Kakashi pulled himself together and turned to his group.

"Well...ok then. We meet at training ground 7 tomorrow. Be there at 7, don't be late and don't eat breakfast!"

"Why not sensei?" the predictable Sakura asked.

"Because you might throw up. Ja ne!" he replied, and was gone.

And that was the end of that.


	5. You dented my kettle!

Chapter 5- You dented my kettle!

After Kakashi-sensei had left, Naruto had tried to ask the others if they wanted any ramen. She had been hoping that they would agree, but when Sasuke-teme had turned her down... well.

Needless to say she had come away with aching ears after Sakura had assumed that Naruto wanted a date, and besides, she doubted that the kunoichi would have come as friends if Sasuke wasn't there anyway.

With a sigh, Naruto had left them and _walked_ back to the apartment, knowing that anything too high skilled (like roof hopping) would draw too much attention to the girl who was currently trying to be inconspicuous.

When she had arrived back, at around 3, she had set her normal 20 clones up to do the fuuinjutsu, ninjutsu, chakra control and chakra sensing and then had proceeded to train her taijutsu with a few more clones.

Which brought her to where she was now, 5 hours later, sitting alone in her flat with the clones gone and panting heavily after her intense taijutsu.

It hadn't been the original plan to end at only 8, but Naruto did recognise the need to eat and sleep every so often, and besides, Kyuu-chan had promised her the third graduation gift if she came early that night.

And Naruto never turned down a present.

Finally bothering to pull her tired self off the floor, Naruto walked around the flat and picked up the writing materials that a few of her clones had forgotten to tidy and wandered into the kitchen.

She picked up the kettle and filled it with water to boil, then crashed around in the cupboard for a pack of ramen and her mixed vegetables. Bunging them all into a bowl, she settled at the table for a second until the water was boiled.

**"Kyuu-chan? Are you awake?"** she asked quietly.

**"Huh? Yeah, I'm awake. Just a bit... weary. You might want to come in here soon, before I fall asleep though,"**

Naruto frowned and said nothing; although thinking about how strange it was that Kyuubi was actually complaining about rest when she liked to pretend that she was never tired.

Oh well, she could ask about that in a minute but right now it was food time. She stood up leisurely and reached across for the kettle.

Then a noise from behind caught her attention.

Naruto span around, kettle in one hand and kunai in the other as she caught the blade of a sword on it.

Quickly as the assailant's plan failed, they drew the sword back and darted forwards, attempting to break underneath Naruto's block.

She didn't even flinch as the sword came close to her legs, and suddenly flickered out of sight just before the cold metal touched the limbs, moving so fast that the attacker didn't see her coming as the kettle was swung and boiling water poured out onto their scalp and the plastic whacked their neck.

They fell unconscious even as the kunai was driven hard though the neck.

She bent over slowly and touched their wrist, feeling for a pulse but found none. The attacker was dead. Once again reaching out, she grabbed the edge of the black mask across their face and pulled it off in one sharp movement. Underneath was a young boy, with skin as pale as a ghost's and a shock of black hair.

There were curiously feminine features on him, with blank dark eyes and an expressionless mouth, so he had had a _lot _of emotional conditioning if he had remained like that in death.

Naruto felt for a pocket in the trousers and found none, but spotted a storage seal on the inside of the sleeve. She pushed her chakra into it and out popped a mission request.

It had written on it _Assassination of Uzumaki Naruto, Kyuubi jinchuriki. Mission level: S rank. Mission accepted, Root ANBU Sai. _(A/N sorry! Sai doesn't fit in with my plot line and I wanted something exciting to happen this chapter)

On the back it had written Root ANBU. Council of Konoha.

She sadly closed the young boy's eyes, and performed a quick fire jutsu. The body and clothes quickly burnt into ashes, with she carefully scooped up and put into a little pot that used to hold her jam, before walking across the room and activating a tiny blood seal, in pale ink, which opened to reveal... a wall of shelves.

Every shelf was almost completely filled with little pots of ash, and each one had been beautifully decorated with the date, a picture of them in life, name and/or title and who the mission had come from.

The blonde slowly raised her newest pot up on a shelf. It was yet another assassination attempt, one of about 50, and so far all but around 5 were from the Konohan council.

It made her sad.

How could they hate someone so much that they were willing to try and kill her time and time again, all the while knowing that the last one hadn't come back, and this assassin was unlikely to survive either?

Naruto was truly disgusted by the low level of respect held for human lives by this council, who supposedly did things for the _good _of Konoha and _all_ of its inhabitants. So much for that idea.

Apparently she didn't count as a citizen of Konoha... hehe. That was a funny thought.

Ooh... the world... her flat... it was so bright... and spinning. Was it meant to be spinning... it looked funny... even those jars... funny... No! They were not funny... poison.

Fumbling fingers lashed out at the blood seal and sealed it hurriedly. Woozy, she looked down at herself and saw her fingers.

Ooh... purple... were they always like that? NO! Poison, had to get to bed... funny...the colours look weird from this angle...

Naruto fell to the floor and slept.

* * *

><p>In her mindscape Naruto woke up, shaking off the effects of the poison. It wasn't too bad, Kyuubi would soon get rid of it but she might be late for tomorrow.<p>

Oops.

Maybe she should have worn a glove or something when she closed that boy's eyes. He really was determined, fighting her with something on his skin so that if he died, all it would take was one touch and she would be gone too.

He had forgotten to take into account Kyuubi though, who could heal Naruto at amazingly fast speeds.

And had a present for her!

Whirling around, she walked right up to the den, and kept on going inside.

Originally, it had been some sort of cave, with bars keeping Kyuu-chan away from her but after they had become friends, Naruto had thought it cruel and changed the seal into a collar so that her fiery friend could wander where she liked.

Kyuubi had been happy.

**"Kyuu-chan? Are you there**?" A loud noise sounded from ahead, and she squinted into the dark part of the den that was made to sleep in.

**"Yes kit, just a bit-" **she stifled a yawn. **"Tired,"**

**"Are you ok?" **the blonde jinchuriki asked anxiously.

**"I'm fine; this present...just... took a bit of energy to make,"** and with that Kyuubi held out the most amazing weapon that Naruto had ever seen.

First, the arrows. She had never seen anything like them! They were made of ash, like normal military arrows, and they were a matt black. The end was shaped in a point, but the edges of the point were flat and sharp, unlike anything Naruto had ever seen before.

The feathers attached to the ends of them were a very dark blue, and had steel streaks running through them. When Naruto lifted another one out of the quiver to compare the two, the first one flew back in.

Surprised by it, Naruto tried it again, but this time checked what was in the end of the quiver.

It was a magnet. Kyuubi must have made the magnet stronger, so that the arrows would return again, until the magnetic charge ran out. If she was lucky though, it would last a good two years with the amount of power that Kyuubi liked to put in things.

There was also a bow, midnight blue, and it too, was made of Ash. It felt strong and supple in her hands, and she was unsurprised to see that was the perfect weight.

Engraved faintly on the handle were the words _Kami no Hoshi_, and just above the handle there was a tiny little notch in the otherwise smooth wood. Curious, she pressed it and without a sound the wood there lifted up.

Hidden underneath the newly discovered flap was a tiny red fire opal. It was shaped as a _magen david_, the star of David, because, as Naruto knew, the strongest shape is a triangle and this star was made of triangles.

She was awed.

Using her chakra sensing skills, the young shinobi concentrated hard on the jewel and was astonished to find almost six tails worth of chakra swirling inside. It felt like Kyuu-chan's red chakra... no it was her blue chakra... it was purple!

Lost for words, she looked up at Kyuubi, who chuckled wearily at her expression.

**"It can hold as much chakra as you can put in, and when you get to a high enough level in fuuinjutsu, you can fit seals to make your chakra into any chakra type you'd like apart from blood lines. Currently there is six tails in there, which I have changed into something between your chakra and mine,"**

**"Wow Kyuu-chan,"** Naruto whispered reverently.

**"This is...the most amazing gift I've ever got," **Naruto finished, before carefully placing the arrows onto her back, and looping the bow over her arm.

It fitted perfectly, slotting in like a puzzle piece.

Naruto ran forwards, and hugged her best friend and mother figure, who smiled gently and patted her head.

That was where they slept that night, Naruto poisoned and Kyuubi exhausted, together in their own world.

* * *

><p>AN I felt like a bit of excitement that chapter so cue Sai!

I'm sorry I killed him but he doesn't fit in, and I wanted another reason for Naruto to dislike Konoha.

Spoilers, sweetie!

Please read and review; if there is one new review then I promise to update on the next scheduled date, otherwise it might take a tad longer...

J

J


	6. Stealth? What's that?

Chapter 6-Stealth? What's that?

A body stirred. Eyelids fluttered. A hand twitched. A groan sounded.

"Kami, why would I sleep like this?" the voice questioned, stretching out the body carefully and standing up.

Naruto sleepily looked around her and saw the... kitchen. Huh? Why was she in the kitchen? What kind of crazy party had she-

Oh. Oops. Poison, that was right. Sadly, the blonde recalled the boy that she had been forced to kill... Sai, was it? Yes, Sai. It said so on his jar (that needed decorating. Mustn't forget).

**"Morning," **whispered Kyuubi in Naruto's head. She smiled and replaced her genjutsu.

**"Morning Kyuu-chan," **she replied, a bit grumpy but she had just spent the night on the floor. A cold, hard floor, she might add. Without ramen... Ramen!

She jumped over to the kettle happily (wincing a little as muscles twanged, but more so at the giant dent in her kettle. It was there from the fight, but still! It was irritating!)

The battered kettle beeped loudly as the water boiled, and she poured it eagerly onto the open ramen that was still on the table.

Settling down happily, the jinchuriki slurped her ramen down in record time, then ate another. She was eating for two meals after all!

Stealing a quick glance at the clock, her eyes widened noticeably when she realised that she was two hours late.

**"Kyuu-chan! Do I have everything?!"** she yelled in her mind, panicking before her first impression on her new sensei.

**"Don't worry kit, you have everything... just might want to take the bow and arrows out of here. You can add some more energy to it later!"**

**"Thanks again for it, Kyuu-chan. It really is amazing,"**

**"Use it wisely,"** came the solemn reply. Naruto nodded once, sharp, serious, then stood up straight and summoned the sword from her mindscape.

It appeared in a dim flash of yellow, and the girl couldn't help but admire it one last time (look at the points on those arrows!) before regretfully putting it into the sheath and attaching them to her back.

It melded into her disguise, and she watched pouting as her newest possession vanished.

But oh well. It was time to go anyway.

She bounced out of the window cheerfully, landing carelessly on the street below and grinned widely.

* * *

><p>Naruto sighed, turning around yet again to pace the other way. She had run all of the way there for nothing! That stupid sensei hadn't even arrived by the time she reached the clearing, so all that was left to do whilst under her teammates watchful eyes was to sneak out a kage bunshin (or two) and train lightly against one in taijutsu.<p>

Of course, they had also used the mind jutsu that Kyuubi had taught them so that the others wouldn't notice the invisible attacks.

The other kage bunshin hid behind a tree and summoned the usual set of 20 training clones who silently bounded away.

Naruto kept on fighting.

Finally, three hours after the time when they were supposed to arrive, a silver haired jounin decided to appear. Birds squawked and flew away from trees as the two loud genin screamed viciously

"You're late!" Kakashi merely flapped a hand.

"Maa, maa minna-san, I was on my way here when I saw an old lady crossing a road who looked like she needed some help..."

They snorted in disbelief.

Kakashi returned the scornful expressions with a happy crinkled eye, and reached into a pocket dramatically.

"This is what you have to get in order to pass the test and become a genin team," he stated calmly. Three, two, one...

"So we aren't already genin then?" Sakura demanded, but Naruto interrupted her with a sly smile.

"Fine then. We'll just pass another genin test," Naruto smirked back at their leader, who pondered Naruto for a second. She had said we... she was already thinking of them as a team. Good for them!

Unfortunately for Kakashi, 'we' had actually meant her and Kyuubi. Of course, there was no need for _him_ to know, was there...

"This alarm is set for noon," Kakashi stated, pulling out an alarm clock and setting it down on the tree stump in front of the three children. They looked at it curiously as Kakashi went on

"Those who cannot get a bell by noon... get no lunch," he said, pulling out two silver bells and twirling them gracefully around his finger. Naruto noted the two bells, but before she could ask the obvious question their sensei said

"There are only two bells, so one of you will definitely fail. And...whoever doesn't get a bell has to go back to the academy,"

There was silence as the bombshell was dropped. Naruto and Sakura opened their mouths to respond, but the jounin quickly cut them off.

"And... start!"

Two pairs of legs ran off. Naruto longed to do the same (it was sensible when facing Kakashi, or team up like they were supposed to, or even win it by herself like she knew she could. It would be tricky, but possible) but she knew, as a good actress, that her character would never do that.

So she waited.

"The basics of a ninja is to hide yourself well. Good you have all hidden yourselves we-" he turned around.

"Umm... you're a bit off," he told Naruto, making her whine at Kyuubi about her 'amazing stealth' gone to waste.

Sakura, tucked under a bush, resisted the urge to snicker at Naruto making a fool of himself.

Sasuke sighed quietly from his tree and thought **'what a moron'.**

Neither knew that Naruto was having the same thoughts as them.

"Come and fight me!" Naruto shouted out loud.

**"I feel like such an idiot..." **she moaned inwardly. Kyuubi smirked smugly at her and replied

**"You're the one who chose this mask kit! You lay your own bed!"**

**"Doesn't make it any comfier!"** she shot back. The kitsune sweatdropped at her lovable container, who had completely missed the entire point of the saying.

**"Oh well. Just get on with it! The quicker we pass this, the quicker we can go train,"**

**"True. I'll be quick,"** Naruto allowed, then narrowed her eyes at her opponent.

"I said fight me! The only thing a bit off her is your hair cut!" she sprang forwards, at a fraction of the speed she possessed, towards her sensei.

He reached into his weapons pouch, slow and stately, and she skidded to a halt.

**"He's going to use weapons?" **she asked Kyuubi.

**"No kit, look at the position of his hand. It has to be gripping something rectangular, and odds are that it won't be a weapon. Who can fight with a weapon that would be shaped like that?"**

**"I see,"** Naruto replied calmly. On the outside though, she was still pretending to be tense and worried, sweating like a pig with her body leaned forwards, arms back.

It was a rubbish defence, and she knew it.

"First rule of taijutsu..." Kakashi told her, 'scaring' her.

And then he pulled out...


	7. Don't fall asleep on the job!

Chapter 7- Don't fall asleep on the job

...a book.

Her mouth hung wide open and she asked

"But... hey! Hey! Why do you have a book?" she asked confusedly. Inside the mindscape, where she was free of outsiders, she and Kyuubi rolled around on the floor laughing.

For you see, it wasn't any old book.

It was one they knew very well; ero-sennin's Icha Icha Paradise.

They had been there when he was writing it (the main reason that Naruto had decided it was a very bad idea to tell him Naruto's secret) and had been forced to read the drafts of the final copy.

And now Kakashi was reading it!

Naruto pretended to be angry though, and launched forwards once again.

A punch was thrown. He stepped backwards. A kick was aimed. He ducked. A second punch was thrown... and hit wood.

Naruto stood there, 'surprised' as the silver haired shinobi poofed out of existence. The presence of a dangerous person was felt behind her, but the blonde controlled her natural instinct to turn around and injure the threat, still under the charade of Naruto.

"A ninja isn't supposed to get caught from behind, baka," the voice said lazily.

"Huh?" dramatic, of course, Naruto thought to herself, rolling her eyes as she waited for the next move. Sadly, Naruto knew that it would involve her getting hit.

Damn.

Kyuubi was right, she should have chosen a mask that didn't have to be stupid the entire time.

**"Too late now!"** the gleeful voice of Kyuubi whispered into her ear. Naruto physically jumped as Kyuubi pounced on her from behind and hugged her.

Fortunately, no-one in the outside world noticed her jump from anything out of the ordinary; they were focused on Kakashi, currently in the seal of a tiger.

It was commonly used for fire jutsus, and the last members of the team were freaking out (calmly- definitely calm) that their sensei was serious enough to use a katon jutsu from such close quarters.

And then he called out the name of the jutsu.

"Sennen Goroshi!"

Naruto hardened her skin with chakra, not enough that he would notice, but enough so that the technique barely hurt at all.

Still had the same force though. She went flying through the air, carefully gathering enough wind chakra to shield her from the drop, and landed in the middle of the woods.

That was really going to smart later.

She sighed, but since the jinchuriki had _really _had enough of this 'fight the teacher without showing any skill' game that she was so good at, Naruto walked to the nearest tree and climbed it.

Sitting about half way up, she looked across towards her old position and saw Sasuke for a second, before he carefully climbed down and away from the tree, presumably towards the sensei.

Yawning widely, Naruto subtly switched the jutsu _gouzen otokonoko_ (phantom boy) to take chakra from her chakra seal carefully inked onto the inside of her real jacket.

After all, she couldn't have the genjutsu fall down whilst she was asleep and catching up on the rest from last night that she didn't have.

Never mind that she could go for a week without sleep; this was boring and unnecessary and therefore she could sleep through.

Naruto closed her eyes and slept.

* * *

><p>Sasuke frowned. Not that it was unusual or anything; but he was frowning at the fact that a team member was missing. A certain hyperactive, idiotic shinobi was running wild.<p>

And Kami knew that was never a good thing.

Kakashi was frowning too, slightly worried for the missing idiot of their... group. It wasn't a team yet, oh no, the children had failed and failed badly. He had given them a second chance, supposedly after lunch, but no blonde had turned up for lunch.

If he (A/N I figure 'hey, his thoughts. I should write he' so yeah) didn't turn up soon, then he was going to reveal his position at the edge of the woods to find them. The Kyuubi container couldn't be left alone for too long after all.

Meanwhile, Sakura wasn't at all worried.

**"Cha!"** she told inner Sakura irritatedly.

**"Sasuke-kun's ignoring me! I bet it's that baka's fault. Where is he anyway? I bet he got lost!" Inner Sakura agreed...**

Until Sasuke pushed himself up and announced that he was going to go find Naruto.

"What! Sasuke-kun, why? I bet that the idiot just got lost anyway!" she latched herself onto his arm as he started to walk away.

"Sakura. Let go of my arm. I am going to find Naruto, because he will be a liability left alone without food," Sasuke said evenly.

Sakura pouted at him as she reluctantly let go, then followed him as he started to walk away.

Quickly she caught up, falling into step with the quick paced boy.

"What do you want?" he grunted, looking straight ahead with narrowed eyes.

"Will you go on a date with me after this, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked, peeking shyly at him.

"No," he responded firmly and walked off.

Sakura stopped walking as she saw him walk off, and sighed sadly. He wouldn't go on a date. Oh well. He would surely agree tomorrow! She had long hair after all, and everyone knew that Sasuke-kun liked long hair.

* * *

><p>Sasuke wandered further into the woods, eyes peeled back searching irritatedly for a glimpse of orange. Orange meant Naruto. That was his goal.<p>

However, the best he could see was green, dark green, light green, a bit more green, brown, yellow, gree- yellow.

Black eyes zeroed in on blonde hair. Yellow was almost orange, and at least Naruto was easy to spot. Sasuke let a small smirk cross cold features as a top-quality, polished shuriken was pulled out of a pocket. Hah. That would teach Naruto to sleep whilst he was meant to be doing something.

The weapon whistled slightly in the air as it cut straight through to where Naruto was. He lay there sleeping as the throwing star passed over his head, and stabbed itself through the material on his other side.

Naruto tried to shuffle over in his sleep, and ended up crashing into the tree he had been lying on. Eyes now open, he shot upwards as the Uchiha watched, satisfied with his work.

* * *

><p>Naruto had in fact, not been asleep. Well, she had been at first (she had spent way too much time with Gaara when she should be sleeping) but the instant Sasuke had come within range of her chakra sensors, she had been jolted from a peaceful rest into a rough tree. Not the best sleeping place, but it would do.<p>

She had then discreetly shifted her _gouzen otokonoko _to her again, since it made no sense for it to be on her spare reserves when Naruto had plenty of chakra ready to power it with.

The shuriken had been thrown seconds before Naruto started, but she hadn't bothered moving since it would miss.

However, she had thrown in some realistic acting for Sasuke's benefit by pretending that the shuriken had woke her up and made her crash into the tree.

She thought he had bought it. Kyuubi had applauded her the entire time from inside her head, so the blonde had been kind of distracted at that moment in time.

She sprung herself from the tree and swung down like a monkey, making certain of acquiring a few leaves in her hair so that she could still be a baka.

Reaching the floor, a hand reached up and scratched a neck in 'embarrassment' and Naruto apologised (slightly) to Sasuke. Then jumped away.

* * *

><p>Sasuke frowned. There was something wrong with this, something suspicious with this scene, but or the life of him, the young prodigy couldn't figure out what.<p>

The forest? Nope, the only sounds made were animals. Someone following them? He quickly extended his chakra senses, but there was nothing within 10 meters of them. Naruto? No he was the same as normal. That must mean-

He was the _same as normal_. Sasuke had snagged that horrible orange jumpsuit of his with the shuriken. Examining Naruto's left shoulder sneakily, he confirmed what he had suspected. It had definitely hit.

So where was the hole?

(A/N Ok, I'm sorry but I have a stupidly busy weekend, so I'll update as soon as I can, but no promises!)


	8. Frog-san is on the loose!

Chapter eight- Frog-san on the loose!

Sorry for lateness! I have a full version of this chap now, and I will update another tomorrow. Thank you so much to who provided a full weapon analysis (hence the change of sword to bow) and commented on a few unrealistic parts of the story!

Here is the suspicious Kakashi that you thought it would be better to include!

Anyway... here we go, chapter eight.

* * *

><p>Kakashi watched the scene in front of him with a small, almost hidden smile. The group that he saw earlier hating, ignoring or trying to kill each other were now eating lunch peacefully together. The Kage Bunshin that had been watching Sakura had told him how she had yelled 'NARUTO' until he had heard her voice and come back to where they were all meant to be.<p>

Sasuke had played his part by finding the young shinobi in the first place, and at least the boy had had enough sense to not try to hit Naruto with the shuriken. It had gone straight over him into that dreadful material of orange that the blonde called clothes, and pierced him to the tree.

It had been hilarious.

As was the scene he was watching write now. It was better than his Icha Icha Paradise, which was now residing in a pocket as the drama unfolded before his very (hidden) eyes.

Naruto had been scoffing his food when Sakura hit the back of his head for bad manners, but had caused him to drop his lunch and fly towards Sasuke. The boy had been shocked (and Kakashi had actually read the emotion off his face!) when a 40kg pre-teen came flying through the air and landed in his lap. Facing towards Sasuke.

Headfirst.

* * *

><p>Naruto was still complaining about the 'incident' that night to Kyuubi. She had been forced to land in that <em>teme's<em> lap headfirst.

**"For Kami's sake, why couldn't I at least have landed in some other position? We were both mortified!"**

Kyuubi snickered at her kit, still bright red from earlier events.

**"Oh I don't know, are you sure that you didn't enjoy that? I mean, you got to feel his... you know. Even better, you bit it!"**

Groaning, the blonde put her head in her hands as Kyuubi brought up the details.

**"Oh? So you did like it then? Just wait until I tell Gaara about this! He's either gonna be very pissed off, or he's going to laugh his butt of like I am!"**

**"What is going to cause me to do this?"** A voice cut in to their conversation.

Twirling quickly with her bow drawn and an arrow notched, both females sighed as they saw that it was Gaara, come to visit them in the mindscape like they'd arranged with Shukaku.

Smirking at Kyuubi, Naruto quickly placed both weapons back in their rightful places and ran over to her boyfriend.

**"Gaara-kun!" **She yelled joyfully. He raised one non-existent eyebrow at her antics, since they had seen each other the previous night, but smiled and hugged her anyway.

They both drew back and kissed lightly.

Gaara then pulled her back to look at her new outfit again. She looked down at it too.

The open toed sandals were standard commission and would let her move freely whilst having some form of protection. The fishnet wrapped around her ankles, arms and upper chest was to prevent any of her clothing from trailing.

Her cloak was several shades of black and grey as it trailed lazily behind her. It was one of her favourite possessions now; it had seals to make it warmer, cooler and unnoticeable when she decided to activate one, and her personal favourite, the one that she had been working on as an attempt to copy the Hiraishin. It was experimental, but it should return anything that she attached another seal to... in theory.

There was a dark black top, long sleeved with elastic at the ends of the sleeves to prevent it from being caught in the bow string, where the fishnet didn't cover, and it was made of a light metal that would stop most kunai and senbon from reaching her. Only a formidable enemy would be good enough to puncture this armour and get through her guard.

The trousers were the same colour and had hundreds of pockets, which Naruto had already carefully inked storage seals onto. Most of them held spare weapons, of hundreds of types (that pocket held the exploding notes, that one held the fan for use with wind jutsus, and that one held the windmill shuriken... no that held ramen... where had her shuriken gone then!?)

Gaara watched in amusement as his girlfriend checked her pockets. The weapons that she had been trying to show him were... not exactly weapons. Her organisation skills had lasted as far as putting two of the weapons in an order, but when the windmill shuriken had been checked...

The ramen that fell out instead had been both a blessing and a curse to her (she had moaned about those shuriken, and then promptly ate the ramen).

He chuckled at her, making her stop what she was doing and scrunch her nose at him.

**"Nani?" **Naruto asked, confused at why she was being laughed at.

**"Don't worry koi. You just look..." **Gaara trailed off, not sure how to conclude his sentence.

**"Amazing? Beautiful? Stunning? Endearing? Gorgeous? Enthr- mmph!" **

Gaara leant forward and stopped her talking.

**"All of the above,"**

A _very_ happy Naruto grinned and pressed her lips against his.

* * *

><p>Of course, now that the two were having... their alone time... Kyuubi checked her clock.<p>

After the discovery of that jutsu by Naruto, the kitsune had been helping her practice bringing things in and out of her mind, and when the clock had appeared, she insisted on keeping it. Her container had just rolled her eyes, used to this kind of attitude, and carried on with her training.

It was very useful, especially when Kyuubi knew that it was 12 o clock. Midnight.

It was the only time of the day that the ANBU checked in on her, thinking that she'd be asleep, so Naruto had better get out there before anyone came along and realised that something was wrong.

**"Kit! Time to go, now!"** Kyuubi yelled hurriedly.

Naruto quickly turned to face the red head and kissed him.

**"Thanks for meeting me! These bijuu can be really helpful sometimes, huh?"** he absent-mindedly brushed a curl of hair behind her ear.

**"I will meet you again tomorrow?"** Gaara asked questioningly.

She sighed.

**"I hope so, because Kyuu-chan and I are going to attempt to contact all the other jinchuriki and meet up without anyone else knowing. I could really use your help?" **Naruto ended hopefully.

**"You may rely on me,"** Gaara promised.

Smiling at the other, they turned away and walked off; Gaara to the black that would lead him back to his own body, and Naruto to Kyuubi who sent her to sleep. Naruto drifted off happy as she re-entered her body, lifted by an ANBU (hopefully tori, they were nice) onto her own bed.

Kyuubi smiled, both in relief (Naruto wasn't in her mindscape, so the ANBU didn't think she was in a coma) and in happiness at seeing Naruto finding herself another friend, or even more-than-friend.

That night, everything was peaceful.

* * *

><p><strong>'Especially compared to the next morning' <strong>Kyuubi sweatdropped at team 7 from her place in Naruto's mind.

They were, as Naruto was laughing her head off about, on the classic genin mission; find Tora the cat. Tora was a 'devil in disguise', or otherwise known as the Daimyo's wife (Madame Shijimi)'s cat. She was small and had short brown fur. Her eyes were dark, and her recognisable feature was the red ribbon that she wore on her left ear.

In other words, a nightmare.

Only the most elite of the elite, aka ANBU, knew the secret. Tora the cat didn't exist. Well, not anymore- she had died quite a few years back- but Madame Shijimi had given Konoha permission to duplicate her and the cat for D ranks and also another very special test...

The ANBU initiation.

Naruto was laughing because her unsuspecting team was really chasing the newest recruit, Frog-san, who was currently scared out of his wits at having to do 12 tests of this kind before he was allowed to participate in any other missions.

Sakura and Sasuke were just ignoring her, and hoping that the admittedly quite creepy laughter would stop soon, and preferably before they went deaf, but Kakashi had just laughed with her.

Naruto was so caught up in the mirth of the mission, she completely missed Kakashi's appraising stare.

**'Does he know?'** Kakashi thought warily. **'How? Did someone tell him? Is there something else going on I should be wary of?' **

(A/N Kakashi was in ANBU so he knows- and probably had to do it! I wish this happened in the anime ;-))

In truth, the jounin was puzzled and cautious about the blonde. He seemed like an idiot, was loud, irritating and made a fool of himself but there had been a couple of quiet moments when Kakashi had caught him looking thoughtful, and with eyes weirdly glazed over as if he wasn't quite there.

It was like Naruto lived his life half in a day dream, only around part of the time, and the other part just watching himself.

The man knew he had to watch the third member of their team carefully.

But first they had an initiate to tortu- catch. Yes, that was right, catch. They had an initiate to _catch._

* * *

><p>AN Who knew that editing 16 chapters at the same time could be so tiring?!


	9. Let's make nine demons friends!

Chapter nine- Have fun with the demons

Naruto panted heavily, face covered in scratches as she finished her laughing fit. It was in some part due to the running they were doing, and Naruto's mask, and in other parts due to the struggling cat she held in her arms.

It was surprisingly fun to torture him, Naruto mused happily.

She poked the 'cat's' stomach again, grinning in pleasure when it squirmed and tried to escape. Sakura looked spent and couldn't be bothered at that very moment to tell Naruto to stop doing that to the poor cat.

Or, as was also the case, felt that the stupid neko deserved it after making them chase it around for the better part of the afternoon.

Sasuke evidently felt the same, judging by the murderous glares that the cat was receiving on a regular basis.

Kakashi was chuckling once more at his funny team, and at the secret ANBU who was sending him 'help me' glares that he was very happily ignoring.

Why would he stop his most puzzling minion from poking them to death?

At least it was better than painting fences. Naruto had declared war on them, and so was now failing all of those D rank missions by swapping brown paint for neon pink, and had made his teammates work extra hard to both paint them brown _and _restrain him lest he unleash the pink paint again.

Needless to say, it had been an interesting day.

* * *

><p>Flopping back onto soft covers, Naruto released the <em>gouzen otokonoko<em> and put her house genjutsu into place.

It was finally time to contact the other bijuu. Naruto had thought of this only a week ago, but she was extremely excited about the chance to meet them.

Focussing intently, Naruto slid into her mindscape and pulsed her youkai. It mixed with Kyuubi's and together they emitted great waves of the youkai. No one in Konoha could relate it back to her (how would the baka know how to perform something like this?) but Gaara would definitely notice and join in.

Naruto was just hoping that so would some of the other bijuu.

It wasn't long (2 minutes at most) until Gaara combined his chakra and entered her mindscape. Smiling sincerely, he walked over to her and gracefully sat down next to her. Holding her hand the red head joined in with the calling for the others, whilst his bijuu, Shukaku, stomped in and joined Kyuubi.

It had taken a bit of persuading but he had agreed to join them. Had they not met him and Gaara all those years before though, it might have been a different story. Naruto and Kyuubi were just glad that Gaara had kept his mind and was here now.

One by one, consciousnesses came to answer their call.

The Rokubi, Saiken, was first after Gaara to arrive. He himself was a white slug, and had six gleaming tails. Saiken was accompanied by his jinchuuriki Utakata. Utakata had slightly-shorter-than-shoulder-length black hair, and wore a blue open robe. His weapon was unexpected, bubbles, and he carried a scroll in his belt. Utakata was a missing nin from Kiri and was 23 years old.

The next to arrive was the Nibi, Matatabi, who was a blue flaming cat. He was covered in black markings and his two tails waved behind him as the flames that made up his fur flickered. His jinchuriki was a pretty young lady called Yugito who was 25 and had long blonde hair and was allied with Kumo.

The fifth Bijuu to be in Naruto's mindscape was the Hachibi, Gyuuki. Gyuuki was a peculiar mix between an octopus and an ox and had eight waving tentacles or tails (she couldn't quite tell) and for whatever reason decided to rap quite a lot. It was nothing compared to his jinchuriki though, a tall man named B who was 32 and had dark skin with blonde hair. He was the 'brother' of A, the fourth Raikage, and only ever spoke in admittedly rather bad rhyme.

They were all friendly, and said hi to the others who were already there, and when each had realised what they were trying to do, joined in and tried to contact the remaining four.

About ten minutes after Nibi's arrival the five of them were going to give up when suddenly the Sanbi, Isobu, faded into sight. He was a giant turtle, and had one red eye.

When Isobu had arrived, everyone looked for his jinchuuriki, welcoming the chance of having another helper, but none came. The jinchuuriki of Isobu was dead.

With this depressing news silence fell as they all put the last of their effort into summoning Yonbi, Nanabi and Gobi.

The three finally arrived, each with their respective jinchuuriki around a half of an hour after Naruto had started the youkai pulses.

Yonbi was called Son Goku and was an ape with four red tails fanned out behind him. Roshi, his jinchuriki, stood firmly in front of him. Roshi was the eldest of all of the humans, and had long red hair tied in a bun on top of his head. He had a beard and moustache, and a piece of armour ran across the bridge of his nose.

Gobi was next and was a curious animal that seemed to be a horse with five tails and a dolphins head called Kokuo. Go figure. He was accompanied by an extremely tall man called Han, who was unfriendly and a ninja from Iwa. Han had light brown eyes, but wore a large hat with armour covering the bottom half of his face so none of those assembled there knew what he really looked like.

Last, but not least, was the Nanabi, Chomei. He was a giant beetle who had armour on, and his seven tails waved happily from behind him. His jinchuuriki was a girl called Fu, who Naruto immediately took a liking to, who had short green hair and orange eyes.

They had finally all arrived.

* * *

><p>The bijuu looked towards the jinchuuriki warily, some having arrived there by the will of the containers and not willingly, others out of curiosity. They saw as the two jinchuriki in the middle stood up, and turned towards each other with a kiss.<p>

Well. That was unexpected. Two of the jinchuuriki, who were from different villages as their hitai-aite proclaimed, were in a relationship.

One of them was quite tall, although not up to the same height as Han, and had bright red hair. He had no eyebrows but his vivid green eyes were outlined in black as though he hadn't slept in a long time, and a tattoo over his left eye was of the kanji _love. _The boy was from Suna.

The other jinchuriki was one of the youngest and had long blonde hair trailing down her back in a ponytail. She had startling blue eyes and whiskered cheeks, which made most of the party more cautious as they recognised the girl as the container of Kyuubi.

The two of them joined hands and walked into the line of humans, creating a circle for them to talk in.

**"Please could everyone introduce themselves? We called everyone here to talk. I am Uzumaki Naruto, shinobi of Konoha and jinchuuriki of Kurama,"**

She sent an apologetic look at Kyuubi as she fell silent, and for a moment everyone else was also silent as they took in the speaker, the Kyuubi jinchuriki. The boy next to her spoke up

**"I am Sabaku no Gaara, shinobi of Suna and container of Shukaku,"**

**"Nii Yugito, shinobi of Kumo and container of Matatabi,"**

**"Roshi, shinobi of Iwa and container of Son Goku,"**

**"Han, shinobi of Iwa and container of Kokuo,"**

**"Utakata, missing nin of Kiri and container of Saiken,"**

**"Fu, shinobi of Taki and container of Chomei,"**

**"Killer B, shinobi of Kumo and container of Gyuuki, yeah,"**

Naruto took a deep breath and looked at Gaara, who looked reassuringly back at her.

**"Ok, so I called everyone here so that we could get to know each other, so we can each have another friend and if we are ever called to fight each other as a weapon, we can make our own choices. Plus, I was just curious about everyone,"** she said, rubbing the back of her neck nervously.

Silence. Three, two, one... Fu grinned happily and ran across to Naruto.

**"Hi! I'm Fu!"** she said exuberantly. Fu held out her arms and hugged the blonde, who stood there in shock for a second, then laughed and hugged back. They pulled away and grinned at each other.

**"I'm Naruto!"**

Gaara, Chomei and Kyuubi rolled their eyes at the two of them and slowly, the jinchuuriki started to get acquainted with each other.

Look at me! An update in on time! Wow, been a while since that happened!

I hope u like!

Also, am extremely happy cos a Wrinkle in Time was updated (11 months hiatus! Unacceptable) and so people should go read it- it is amazing! 11 chapters, but 100k+ - I don't know how she does it :-(

But she is amazing at it!


	10. This might be a problem

Chapter ten- This might be a problem...

**"Bye Fu-chan!" **Naruto called out happily. Her new best friend turned towards her and waved happily.

**"See you soon Naru-chan!"** she shouted back with a grin as her figure disappeared slowly into the black at the edge of her mindscape that was other minds could link up to.

Grinning happily, the blonde turned to the only one left there (excluding Bijuu) and hugged him tight.

**"Did that go as well as you wanted it to go, Naruto-chan?"** She beamed up at him.

**"It went loads better! I'm so glad that we did this Gaara-kun,"** Naruto replied excitedly.

**"I am glad as well. However, it is morning and we both have places to go," The** blonde groaned. She didn't want to go anywhere; she was happy here thank you very much!

**"Five more minutes Gaara-kun?" **she asked, batting her eyelashes in an attempt to get the redhead to agree.

**"Only five more," **he agreed, albeit a bit reluctantly. All that he could hope was that his devil sister Temari, or his annoying brother Kankuro didn't discover his body in the meantime.

* * *

><p>In Suna, the sun was shining bright and early. Temari yawned widely as she walked into her bathroom, placing on her customary outfit and grabbing her fan.<p>

Suddenly she sneezed.

Looking around suspiciously, she frowned. Someone was talking about her... however; fortunately for Gaara she was too busy to really ponder the matter.

Pounding heavy handed on the brown door of Kankuro's room, the blonde yelled

"Kankuro! Baka, it's eight o'clock and you have training at half past! If you ever get your lazy bum up, I'm gonna be in the kitchen eating all of the pancakes!"

At this, a stumble and a quiet curse could be heard from inside the room, and then a loud bash and a yelp as the occupant of the room tried to get ready before his elder sister ate all of the pancakes.

Snickering, Temari walked further down the corridor, followed shortly after by a flushed boy in a black cat suit. He raced after her and caught up as she lifted a hand to knock on the last door in the hallway, a blood red door. She carefully knocked on it and called out

"Gaara? It's me, Temari. If you would like then we have put breakfast on the table,"

Tensing in apprehension for what came next, they waited for the sand to swirl under the door and wrap around a leg in confirmation.

They waited.

And waited.

And waited a bit more.

After receiving no reply for several minutes, the Sabaku siblings looked at each other and Kankuro cautiously stepped forwards. A hand was raised slowly, and a gentle nudge opened the door wide.

Prepared for their younger brother's rage when they found them in the room, Temari and Kankuro stepped forwards. There, by the window, lay their brother. Asleep.

They immediately panicked, considering that if he slept then the Ichibi would be released, but when nothing happened, Temari stepped forwards once again and stroked Gaara's cheek lovingly. It had been ages since she had seen him like this; vulnerable and innocent.

A sudden smile crept up his stone features and crinkled the edge of his mouth.

They gaped at it.

Why the hell was _Gaara_ of all people smiling? And for that matter, why was he sleeping!?

A mumbled string of words came from his mouth, and Temari leant towards him to hear what he was saying.

"Are we... the others soon? ...see you... then... -chan," he whispered softly.

She gasped and stepped back, motioning furiously for her younger sibling to do the same as Gaara woke up.

Once they were outside the room, the door was shut tightly and Temari repeated to Kankuro what she had heard.

"Gaara asked someone if, if they were doing something with others soon, and then said that he would see them..."

"That's not so bad is it?" Kankuro replied curiously.

"No but he also said 'chan'," Temari answered nervously.

(For any unaccustomed to the ways of Japanese, 'chan' is a suffix used after a name that refers to a close female friend or sister)

"Ok... Maybe we should watch out for the next couple of days," he said, backtracking quickly to the kitchen. He liked the kitchen. Currently there were no freaky and/or scary siblings hiding in it.

With a roll of her eyes, Temari strode off towards the kitchen as well, hoping for some pancakes.

Well, there went Kankuro's safe haven.

* * *

><p>Naruto opened her eyes, blinking as she yawned.<p>

Damnit! She had got so caught up in chatting to the jinchuuriki (mainly her green haired friend Fu) that she had forgotten to recharge with actual sleep. Normally she survived on the three hours gained between 6 and 9, when there was enough time to get ready before Kakashi arrived.

Although it was currently nine thirty.

* * *

><p>Or not, as it turned out. It was eleven thirty (at least by the time she made an appearance at training ground 7 it was) and she had a very irritated team waiting for her.<p>

"NARUTO!" Her kind and loving fellow kunoichi yelled and bumped Naruto fiercely on the head.

"Humph. Dobe," The reaction of her uncaring second teammate.

"Naruto, Naruto, must we go back to basics here? I'm sure the first year academy would love to have you with them learning how to read a clock as it appears that you have forgotten how it is done,"

"Hai sensei," she replied, lost in a bubble of her own thoughts.

The bubble remained there for the entire day, giving the others the impression that she wasn't all there today. Quite rightly too. Half of her mind had gone dreaming to a place with Gaara, and the occasional appearance of Fu.

Happy days.

Kakashi noticed that the daydream was apparent throughout the entire day, but didn't know what to do about it.

Poking didn't work.

Ignoring it didn't work.

Bashing him on the head (courtesy of Sakura) didn't work.

So Kakashi tried the last option that he could think of.

* * *

><p>The Sandaime Hokage was having a peaceful day, reading a little oran- no, doing all of his paper book (whilst his secretary ignored the giggles that drifted out from underneath the door) when <em>crash<em> Naruto came flying in. Literally.

"Naruto! Why is there a hole in my roof?"

The culprit scratched his head and replied

"I don't know. I guess Kaka-sensei felt like it," Oh. So Kakashi was responsible for this? But what was he doing there?

A sharp rap of knuckles on the door prompted him to call out

"Come in!" and in entered the silver haired jounin himself.

"Ah, Kakashi. I hope that you can explain why Naruto came falling through my ceiling,"

_Uh oh_ he thought.

"Well you see, I was crossing the road when I saw a bright orange thing chasing Tora the cat, and so I stepped in to save the poor little cat and all of a sudden the orange thing disappeared,"

Sandaime sighed, then laughed a bit at the excuse. However, peering closer at the man he saw the ANBU hand signs that meant Kakashi needed to talk in private. Raising an eyebrow curiously, he turned to the 'bright orange thing' (thing! Thing indeed Naruto thought crossly) and said

"Well, it's okay. It'll be your mission tomorrow to clean it up. Go on, my boy, I'll sort out the rest of this mission with your sensei,"

"Hai, hai jiji! I'm gone, see?" and true to her word, Naruto ran off, out of sight of the men.

* * *

><p>Naruto cautiously flew back to the room and landed on the door frame. Silly people, underestimating her. Just because she acted like an idiot!<p>

**"Kit..."**

**"Fine,"** ok, that might be a pretty good reason. But still!

The second she had been ordered out of the room so that the men could talk (of course she had noticed the hand signs- she had grown up with ANBU all around her after all) Kyuubi had suggested that she henge into a fly and come back again.

Naruto had done just so, since it was better than her 'walk on the ceiling in an invisible genjutsu' that any chuunin could notice.

Enhancing her ears with chakra, the bluebottle called Naruto listened.

"-ruto, Hokage-sama," came the deep voice of Kakashi.

"Go on then. Is there something I need to know about him?" replied the Hokage. Naruto grinned a little- people of Konoha were really bad at... how to put it...

"Seeing underneath the underneath, as that 'sensei' of yours would say," Kyuubi answered. Naruto could just _hear _the grin in her voice as she smiled back and continued listening.

"He appears to live life in a day dream for part of the time. It's weird, but it's a bit like Naruto's listening but not really paying attention to the world around him. He was also laughing a lot when the mission about Tora the cat came up yesterday, so it is plausible that he knows,"

"Hmm. In this case, I will have to keep an eye on him. Thank you Kakashi,"

"No problem, Hokage-sama," Naruto heard the squeak of rubber as Kakashi turned towards the door.

"Oh and also... when you touch him it feels a bit off, like... I'm not sure how to explain it. I can feel him, but it somehow seems a bit artificial. Don't take my word on this one though- maybe speak to a few more people about him. I honestly don't know if anyone knows him well enough to know any of these secrets though,"

"I wonder..." were the last words Naruto caught with her ears before being caught in a strong hand. She blinked huge fly eyes at her captor.

It was Kakashi. Ah. This might be a problem.


	11. Four hours? That's good enough

Chapter 11- Four hours? That's good enough

"Oh and also... when you touch him it feels a bit off, like... I'm not sure how to explain it. I can feel him, but it somehow seems a bit artificial. Don't take my word on this one though- maybe speak to a few more people about him,"

Suddenly, a small buzzing noise came to Kakashi's attention. What was it? A small animal- perhaps a fly?

No, it was too convenient. They hadn't been cautious, there were no silencing seals up, so the odds were that there was a spy listening in!

But where were they? It was probably one of the Aburame (but they were loyal) so a Kamizuru member then?

The noise occurred again and Kakashi started walking to the door as he finished his sentence.

"I honestly don't know if anyone knows him well enough to know any of these secrets though,"

The Sandaime looked thoughtful as the jounin opened the door.

"I wonder," he started as Kakashi reached out above the frame and caught what appeared to be a fly in between his index finger and his thumb.

The younger man turned back towards his Hokage with the intruder in his hand.

"So then. What clan is it?" the Sandaime inquired. Old he might be, but his hearing was still very much with him.

"Well, it seems to be a fly, probably from the Aburame, but I think that it is more likely that a Kamizuru clan member has henged their bee into a fly to shift the suspicion away from them,"

"Hai, I agree with you Kakashi. So, would you like to do the honours?"

The prodigy smiled as he held up a seal and called out

"Kai!"

A cloud of smoke surrounded the insect and when it was gone, in place of it lay...

* * *

><p>Naruto panicked as her fly self was caught by Kakashi-san and brought into the room.<p>

She was shown to the Sandaime, who was currently looking nothing like the kind gentleman he usually faked being around her, and as the younger man rose up his hand seal, she prepared a quick plan.

"Kai!" rang out across the room, and she quickly enlarged the smoke cloud. Her true body appeared for a miniscule part of a second, before henging in the smoke into the form of a bee.

Hey, if they wanted to suspect the Kamizuru clan, then it was their choice! She could just offer them a good reason.

The bee Naruto was lifted into the air as she buzzed her wings three times. It was a signal to one of her kage bunshin to come and save her.

Naruto knew quite well that any attempt to escape would end in the bee being killed so that no information could get away, hence the need of an assistant Kage Bunshin.

Calmer now, the yellow and black striped girl focussed her ears on the conversation.

"Do you think that they heard anything vital?" That was Kakashi.

"No, we'd have heard the buzzing sooner. I just wonder who would send an informant right now,"

"It must be Iwa; who else would try such a technique,"

Her Bunshin had arrived.

Naruto rose slowly, knowing that Kakashi had temporarily forgotten about her in his palm. Using it to her advantage, she zoomed away faster than he could react and swapped positions with the newly created _Chi Bunshin_. And not a moment too soon. In that instant after she had kawarimed, a razor sharp kunai had flown neatly through the air and pierced the side of the bee.

Naruto felt sorry for the poor bunshin, but was glad that it wasn't her.

* * *

><p>With a sigh, Naruto fell back into her comfortable bed. It was nearing midnight, and after her ANBU gaurds had visited she was going to do her first mission as the Kami no Hoshi.<p>

She had checked out an unaccepted mission scroll earlier, and what she had found had made her furious. How dare Konoha ignore it?

So now the blonde was just going to take it without the knowledge of Sandaime.

What he didn't know couldn't kill him.

It should be a fairly simple mission; travel to the village, locate the target, assassinate him and come back again. But when did anything ever work out simply for Naruto?

* * *

><p>A minute past midnight saw Naruto dressed and ready to go, with seal paper and ink hidden in a storage sealed pocket, and in yet another pocket ready-made explosive seals, invisibility seals, transportation seals (well, they were experimental seals that she had been working on and was hoping that she could get to transport herself, like the Hiraishin of the Yondaime, her idol) and paralysis seals.<p>

Her bow was ready and packed, along with her arrows.

She was planning to go to Takumi, in the Land of Rivers, where there was a child murderer on the loose. Naruto was still fuming at Konoha, the so-called protectors that didn't bother to help with something urgent like this, so it was only logical to complete the task herself. Easy, right?

However, fate wasn't smiling on the young jinchuriki that night.

It had been easy enough to reach Takumi Village, using her stamina to get herself there in record time, enabling her to perform the job then escape ho- no, escape to Konoha (not her home anymore). Unfortunately there appeared to be guards around the back entrance of the building that she was trying to get into.

Fortunately, they were only thugs instead of hired shinobi. Walking out confidently, Naruto faced them and pulled out a kunai, disguised as a simple hammer.

Pretending to be weak and feeble, she swung it towards them as if she didn't know what to do. As expected, one caught it and the other punched her in an attempt to knock her out. However, as she flew back through the air acting unconscious, Naruto flickered a genjutsu around her.

It was of a young girl of about 6, the victim's preferred age, and the thugs knew that their boss would like to take her as well. With a grunt, one picked her up and headed inside with the other one staying outside on watch, like they were both meant to be doing.

They were actually doing her a favour this way- she needed to get to their leader anyway. This way it was faster.

Her eyes, hidden behind long hair, moved around furiously whilst they catalogued everything that she might need to know. Two floors, four windows, three doors, three sets of curtains drawn, one open, a picture that could have something behind it, a couple of guards at the top of the stairs to the flight above and five brightly light lights.

He obviously didn't want anyone to sneak up on him.

However, as she turned into the room that she needed to be in, and her target was in sight, Naruto kicked the man holding her in the head and used the momentum to kick the other one out as well.

In a single smooth movement, still henged as a child, she bent and slit the throats of the two of them. No use keeping allies of a heartless murderer alive.

The man cowered before her unflinching gaze, blue orbs as hard as flint as they bore down on the cruel taker of children's lives.

"P- Please," he whispered pleadingly.

"Don't- Don't hurt me. I'm i-innocent," Naruto threw back her six year old head and laughed coldly.

"No you are not. You have the blood of children on your hands, and I have come to exact my revenge," she told the man in a soft child's voice.

Oh yes. He was going to suffer, and suffer well for his crimes. Checking her watch carefully, she calculated how long she had to do this. It was 2 in the morning, so it would take 2 hours to get home, and she was meeting her team at 9.

So if Naruto wanted to arrive home at 8, then she had until 6 o'clock to kill him.

Well well. She could do a lot with four hours.


	12. Can I fly?

Chapter 12- Can I fly?

Exactly four hours later, Naruto emerged from the brightly lit house with a smirk and a lot of blood on her previously black clothing. Most of it was unnoticeable, but quite a lot of the red liquid that was still fresh and gleaming showed up bright against the dark metal.

Well damn. She was going to have to do some serious washing when she got home.

**"Oh well. It was worth it," **she thought, chuckling slightly in sadistic glee at the thought of what she had done in the past few hours.

**"You did well, kit. I don't think I could have done better," **Kyuubi commented, smirking proudly at Naruto.

**"Thanks, Kyuu-chan. I learnt from the best,"** the smile returned to Naruto's face and she turned away from the house.

Leaning forwards, she sprinted off again at her maximum speed. Naruto needed to arrive home and clean this, or she would be spotted and there would be trouble.

* * *

><p>In Suna later that day, news reached Gaara's ears of a child killer who was murdered in the neighbouring country, Kawa no Kuni. It had been said that it was a six year old girl, dressed in black shinobi uniform, with blonde bunches that had killed him.<p>

The killer had left a curious calling mark carved into the victim's forehead; a red star drawn in blood with a halo above it.

However, no-one really knew who had killed the man.

* * *

><p>Naruto grimaced as she neared Konoha. It was coming up to 8 o'clock, like planned, and so the streets were full of people and ninja. Normally this wouldn't be a problem for her, but since she was now all bloody, the higher level shinobi would be able to tell that she was there by her scent.<p>

So the blood needed to be disguised, now.

Stopping in a tall tree about 5 minutes away from the gate, she pulled out her emergency kit bag from her storage seal, and pulled out the soap.

Using her elemental chakra control practice, Naruto pulled the water from the air around her inwards towards all of her clothing. It was drenched as she easily controlled her second element to clean herself, and then she scrubbed at all of the bloodstains with the bar of soap.

It came away pink, and the bubbles covered her outfit almost from head to toe as Naruto dragged the same amount of water into her clothes again. In, out, in out, in, out...

She mindlessly controlled the water until it stopped coming out tinged with pink or red.

Water fell to the ground as she released her hold on it, using her invisibility genjutsu (A/N is it my imagination, or does Kurenai have one of these in canon?) to cover herself.

With a wide grin she suddenly realised something.

Her futon practices involved levitating items from around her. So in theory, Naruto was able to fly.

And what better time to test it than now? If the blonde fell, and was seen by someone, well her clothes were henged on top of this outfit anyway so Naruto could pretend to have been doing some sort of prank that had gone wrong and ended up with her being catapulted over Konoha.

It had happened before.

* * *

><p>Half an hour later Naruto wobbled slowly out of the tree. She had tried to control her flight, but wasn't very good at it, and was not very happy with the results.<p>

She had just crashed to the floor every try.

Needless to say, Naruto was just going to walk back and work out the whole flying business later, probably with Kage Bunshin, after she had met up with her team and done the missions for that day...

Wait, team?

Damn! Why had she decided to work on this now?

**"Hell if I know kit," **Kyuubi smirked at the expression on Naruto's face as she remembered the time.

Naruto rolled her eyes at the demon kitsune as she thought out her action plan.

Her team was meeting at 9, and however much she disliked the idiots that made up her team, Naruto knew that she needed to be there on time in order to avoid any more suspicion from Kakashi.

It was bad enough that Naruto had been heard as a fly (needed to remember that for future henges) let alone if she was caught with the scent of blood on her clothes.

Checking her watch hurriedly, she realised that she only had 10 minutes until Kakashi-san would arrive. Oh dear.

Looking around quickly, Naruto pulled her fingers together in a shunshin seal, with her two fingers pointing up and the rest in a fist.

A swirl of wind surrounded her, and when it fell away she was gone.

* * *

><p>The Sandaime pulled out his crystal orb, and said to it very clearly<p>

"Uzumaki Naruto,"

Inside it a cloudy mist swirled, and when it whirled itself away, an image of Uzumaki Naruto, the loud-mouthed genin that Sarutobi had grown to like, was shown in vivid colours in the sphere.

He chuckled as he saw Naruto in a tree, presumably on a training field, trying to do something. The Hokage leaned forwards curiously as he saw Naruto close his eyes, focus... and fall of the tree.

Sarutobi laughed as he spied Naruto's expression, halfway between pouting and frowning, as Naruto proceeded to walk back up the tree using his feet (when had Naruto learnt to do that? He needed to keep a close eye on him) and... Fall off again.

What was the poor boy trying to do anyway?

It was about 5 more minutes before Naruto stopped at the bottom of the tree and attempted to walk away. He wobbled quite a lot, probably tired of crashing so many times, and his expression grew blank. Chuckling quietly to himself, the Sandaime watched as horror crept across the young boy's face.

He checked his watch.

Oh, that was it. He was late for something, maybe a meeting with someone? Or was it... oh, it was his team. It was almost 9 o'clock, and on a Kakashi schedule that was the perfect time to show up after arranging to meet at 6.

Sarutobi watched with his attention split between the amusing figure in the ball and his damned paperwork (how had Minato ever done this?) and so almost missed the hand seal that the boy pulled up, and after looking around him, vanished in a swirl of wind.

Shunshin.

Stunned, the Hokage sat back in his chair. Who had been teaching him? The reports from Kakashi showed that Naruto had no great skill in shinobi training, and that his jounin sensei himself had taught Naruto nothing more than some simple taijutsu pointers. It was Uchiha Sasuke that Kakashi had mainly been teaching... (A/N I'd like to point out that I KNEW IT! Kakashi was teaching Sasuke extra... wait a sec, I just wrote this. *Face faults*)

But again, Kakashi had been suspicious of something about Naruto, something about him seeming artificial?

Well, he could just ask team 7 to come to his office and check out what Kakashi had reported now.

A messenger bird was picked from the perches in the adjoining room, and Sandaime scribbled a quick note to Kakashi.

It was firmly tied to the leg of the hawk and sent to find Team 7.

Finally there would be some answers to the enigma that was Konoha's number one most surprising ninja... or would there?

A/N Sorry it's so short! It's a filler, because it's Christmas and I thought I could get some good updates in and then what happens? Writer's block.

I'll try and make an extra long one tomorrow- Merry Christmas eve!


	13. The smell of blood

Chapter 13- The smell of blood

Naruto arrived in her apartment with five minutes left until the meeting. She flew around with reckless speed as weapons were cleaned, clothes were deemed satisfactory, yet more upkeep of weapons as they were sharpened so that it wasn't suspicious...

All in all, it was a big task done in a tiny space of time.

Still, Naruto was at the meeting spot by 9:01, conveniently forgetting how half of the team had been there since 6.

Her forgetfulness earned her another scowl from the boy (which she promptly ignored; wasn't like it was anything special) and a bash on the head from Sakura (really, it was getting very annoying now, and not to mention how much it hurt her feelings. To think that Naruto had thought maybe her team would accept her for who she was).

It also _had_ to be the one day that the jounin of the team decided to arrive an entire half hour early. Really, what was up with him and appearing at random, irritating times? Why couldn't he just say 9 and be done with it?

"Konichiwa, Naruto. I'm glad that you finally decided to grace our humble team with your presence," Kakashi said to the girl sarcastically.

She flushed and yelled angrily

"The stupid alarm clock was broken! How was I supposed to know that? It was working when I went to bed!"

Sakura growled at the noise again, but quickly calmed down again as Kakashi waved his hand nonchalantly.

"Maa, maa Sakura. Calm down. However late this baka wants to arrive, Hokage-sama has requested our presence today," the silver haired man informed his team.

With one last threatening wave of her fist, the pink kunoichi followed after her retreating sensei, who had his nose buried yet again in the perverted orange Icha-Icha book.

With a snicker at ero-sennin's book, Naruto followed, strolling along with her hands behind her head as though she was relaxed and happy, although she was still on edge from her self-assigned mission throughout that day.

She would have probably fallen asleep as well, if it weren't for Kyuu-chan inside of her supplying the girl with her special fiery chakra, which had been separated from the youkai and the ki, which meant that the blonde could easily control it to keep her awake.

**"Thanks Kyuu-chan,"** she silently told her tenant as she realised how she was still awake.

**"It's no problem kit. We don't want anyone to become suspicious of us if we are tired too often... plus the next time you stay up all night with Gaara-kun I promise that I will not keep you awake,"** the nine tailed kitsune replied with a bit of a smirk.

Naruto sweatdropped at the turn in topic.

**"Umm... thanks for the warning,"** she grimaced back, almost walking into the Uchiha's back.

When had he got there? Naruto had set off before him...

"Teme! Why did you stop?" she accused the boy.

"Tch. Are you really so stupid that you can't notice the Hokage tower in front of your nose?" he replied snobbishly, with a hint of a disbelieving tone in his voice.

"Hey! Take that back!" She cried out, lashing out with a weak fist and hitting his blue clad back.

He just 'hnned' back at her as Kakashi-san was suddenly in front of them, holding them apart from each other.

"Now now, you two. Control yourselves please as we are meeting with Sandaime," he ordered the genin with a threatening smile.

With a scowl on her face, Naruto turned her head away from her 'rival' and examined the walls of the familiar surroundings.

When they arrived at the door of Hokage-jiji's office, Naruto had become her 'normal, irritating' self again. The door swung open and she boisterously shouted

"Hi Hokage-jiji," with a beaming grin. She ran forwards and hugged the old man behind the desk.

Sarutobi chuckled at the amusing sight of the orange shinobi as he calmly said back

"Good morning to you too, Naruto,"

However, inside he too had registered how artificial Naruto's touch somehow felt.

"Sandaime-sama," Kakashi bowed low. In return, he nodded cheerfully at the younger man and told the three genin

"I know that I called your team here, and I will explain to you the reason for this in a minute. But please could the three of you wait in the corridor for a moment? I promise we won't take long; I just want to ask your sensei something,"

The two girls and boy walked quietly out the room, albeit with Sakura latching onto Sasuke's arm.

As soon as they were gone, Kakashi activated the silencing seals that were positioned at strategic points around the room, wary of what had happened in the last meeting.

"Yes, thank you Kakashi," the Hokage smiled.

* * *

><p>Outside Naruto cursed her luck. In front of her two teammates she couldn't disable the seals, and any chakra that she used would be detected by either one of the three Anbu hiding in the room, Sandaime or Kakashi.<p>

In short, there was to be no eavesdropping today.

* * *

><p>Considering the time that they had, Sarutobi spoke straight to the point.<p>

"Today I saw Naruto performing feats that should not be in his knowledge currently; tree walking and shunshin," he said, no beating about the bush.

"I... I wasn't aware that he knew these things either, Hokage-sama," Kakashi replied with a bit of shock colouring his tone.

"I wasn't aware that he could do anything out of the normal before today, but I am intending to keep him under a closer watch. I would like to request that you watch his behaviour around you and see if we can figure out how this has come to be," he ordered politely.

"As you wish, Hokage-sama," the man answered sincerely.

"Good. Now, if you would please call your team in?" he asked.

Taking the silencing seals down, the masked jounin poked his head through the door and called out for the three of them to re-enter.

"Ok. The reason that you have been called here today is so that I can have the honour of personally assigning you this mission. You are to train as a team after it had been completed," Sandaime told Team seven.

"Alright, jiji! So then, what's the mission?" Naruto shouted pumping the air as the Hokage himself decided to give this team the mission.

"I need this team to do me the very important mission of..." Kakashi chuckled at the expectant faces as Sarutobi left his sentence unfinished.

"...catching Tora the cat,"

As the old man finished, the anticipatory silence that had filled the room was suddenly broken by the sound of three thuds, as three faces fell to the floor in synchrony.

Scratch that. It was nothing more than her Hokage being a sadistic bastard that had made them come here.

* * *

><p>Two hours and many scratches later, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura collapsed side by side onto the ground by the training stump.<p>

"At least-it's-over," Naruto told his teammates between pants.

They couldn't help but agree, although it seemed that Kakashi didn't share the same thoughts.

"Come on, my cute little minions! It's time for training!" he said brightly.

"Hell no," Sakura whimpered as she and Sasuke were forced to stand up and move a bit further away in order to spar, whilst Naruto was forced upright to face the second sadistic bastard of the day in combat.

* * *

><p>Kakashi narrowed his eyes at the exhausted Naruto in front of him. This genin held secrets, and he would be damned if he wouldn't figure them out.<p>

Allowing just enough time to allow his young and weary opponent to raise a kunai in defence, he shot off towards Naruto.

Metal struck metal as he aimed at the boy's chest, where the kunai was positioned so that he wouldn't be hurt, and then Kakashi was gone again.

The same pattern continued turn after turn after turn. In fact, who knows how long it might have continued if it hadn't been for the fact that Kakashi's sharp nose suddenly smelt blood on the boy. Dry blood, not fresh blood drawn in their spar.

When he next came in to attack Naruto, he stopped as the other's kunai was held in place by his own and held up the free hand in a symbol that the jinchuriki knew well.

Kai.

"Naruto, I can sense that you are hidden behind a genjutsu. I can also smell dry blood on you. Why is this?" Kakashi questioned.

Although Naruto remained calm on the outside, she was panicking inwardly. Kyuubi rolled her eyes at the mess her kit was in, and stepped forwards.

**"Kit, I suggest that when he releases the genjutsu, you make yourself look like a boy but put marks on your forearms, as if you have been... cutting. It is crude, but I think that it will work,"**

**"Ok, I'll try it," **came the answer to the suggestion.

"Kakashi-sensei, I-" she said out loud, in a voice that slightly trembled.

"No, don't worry. I'll release it and find out myself," he replied without taking his eyes off her.

"Kai," he whispered softly.

All of a sudden, Naruto began to change. His hair grew out a little tiny bit, he became taller by a centimetre or so, his clothes flickered to reveal a black t-shirt and trousers, but his arms changed the most, in Kakashi's opinion.

They became lined in hundreds of scars, but one was wrapped in bandages that had spots of dried blood soaked in.

Naruto lowered her head, her bangs covering her eyes as Kakashi gaped at what he saw.

Taking a step away, Naruto wordlessly replaced the genjutsu as the kai hand seal held up by the jounin was lowered.

"Naruto..." he finally said, voice heavy with the weight of what Kakashi thought he now knew.

"It doesn't matter, sensei," she replied quietly.

As he gaped silently, she turned away and leapt off, leaving the man to his own thoughts.

(A/N I am pretty proud of this chapter, considering it was written on Boxing Day, at 1 in the morning, and is a third longer than the previous chapter! Credits go to arya304 who actually persuaded me to write this now, instead of being lazy and finishing it tomorrow like I would have done.

Merry Christmas minna!)


	14. What the hell just happened?

Chapter 14- What the hell just happened

**"Well done kit," **Kyuubi told Naruto happily. Naruto stayed silent, her long bags creating a curtain to hide behind.

"Kit?" the demon asked worriedly as the girl didn't respond.

Kyuubi walked forwards, and gently pushed the hair out of the way. She gasped as she saw Naruto crying, and threw her arms around the blonde in a tight embrace.

**"There, there, Naruto-chan. It's ok,"** she cooed to the miserable Naruto as she hugged her surrogate mother back warmly.

**"Why are you sad, my kit? You did well! That was flawless timing, and the appearance was realistic! What's the matter?" **the kitsune whispered quietly.

Her nine red tails waved slowly behind her in an attempt to calm Naruto down.

**"I- I don't want to push him away,"** Naruto finally choked out, shuddering in Kyuubi's grip.

**"If he's the best chance of a proper life that I have in Konoha, then I don't want to make it go! I want a proper life, Kyuu-chan! Where I have friends in the village, and people don't look at me like- like I'm about to kill them! Where I can be happy, and I don't have to hide my relationship with Gaara-kun! I just want a proper life, here!" **she burst out, tears falling all the while.

**"Oh kit. It's fine, he won't desert you now. If anything he'll be kinder to you and pay more attention!"**

Naruto said nothing and only hugged Kyuubi tighter.

* * *

><p>However, as the days turned to weeks and the weeks turned to months in a smooth routine, it seemed that Kyuubi was right.<p>

There had been more team practices, and now Kakashi nearly always sparred with Naruto. She started to show a bit more of her true skill in taijutsu, and although she kept on her very heavy weights, Kakashi could see the difference between before and after.

He gave her tips for taijutsu, and whilst Sasuke was the only one that he gave extra lessons to by order of the council, scrolls were exchanged at the end of each session, holding different jutsus, each more powerful than the last.

Naruto learnt more and more ninjutsu with him and slowly but surely, Kakashi had wormed his way into her heart.

Her night time missions as Kami no Hoshi continued, and whilst she only did them once or twice a week, the Kami no Hoshi became a famous ninja. Her sensei, which she was now proud to call him, had kept track of the scent of dry blood and as such, the girl had been more thorough in her washing so that he only found her with the scent every so often.

Kakashi never said anything more on the topic, but whenever they ended a spar when he could tell that she had had blood on her recently, he would hand her a new set of bandages.

Once, when Naruto had gone after a A rank missing nin, and stumbled on a trio of S rank shinobi, she had been very grateful to him as she bandaged her painful injuries up.

That day she had been slow and clumsy as she sparred, but every other day had seen a steady improve in Naruto's skill.

Until today.

It had started as usual, arriving hours behind Sasuke and Sakura and ten minutes before Kakashi-sensei did, but it had soon taken a turn from the ordinary.

Kakashi had arrived seriously, without his normal joking attitude and said

"I have signed you three up to take the chuunin exams, if you wish to. I have slips that you need to sign here with me now, but you all need to understand that these exams are a serious matter, and possibly one of life and death. Do you all understand this?"

The three of them had nodded.

"You have an hour to make your decision, and then meet me back here," Kakashi had then added lightly. After that the jounin had asked to have a word with Naruto. This led them to where they were now; standing a short distance from the others and listening (kind of) to what Kakashi had to say.

"Naruto, I need you in particular to understand this. Some of the villagers may take this as an opportunity to try and assassinate you. If you decide to do this, then you will need to be constantly on guard,"

"Don't worry sensei, I know," she replied with a sad little smile that caught Kakashi's attention. It was clear that Naruto did know, and that this had most likely happened before.

Nodding in acceptance of the blonde's words, Kakashi raised his hand.

"Well, Ja ne!" he eye smiled, and 'poofed' away. (A/N SUCH AN AWESOME WORD!)

The girl smiled, then walked back again to the group.

Sasuke watched her in jealousy.

Why did he, the dead last dobe, get all of sensei's attention?

It wasn't fair. As an Uchiha, it was his right to have power so that he could fulfil his revenge on Itachi. Naruto didn't need or deserve more power than him.

So why did he have more?

Marching up to the grinning boy in question, Sasuke glared at him.

"Dobe, what did Kakashi want to talk to you about, where we couldn't hear?" he questioned furiously. Sakura followed the dark haired boy's lead, and glared at Naruto.

"Hmm? Oh, he wanted me to remember that it wasn't just a game and that I ought to be more careful that I won't be killed," she replied distractedly.

It wasn't a lie, she thought. It just wasn't the reason why Naruto had to be more careful.

**"I'm sorry kit. You know that I would change it if I could,"** Kyuubi said sadly, not wanting to cause Naruto pain.

**"Kyuu-chan! T's ok, don't worry about it. At least I have you, Itachi-nii, ero-sennin, Gaara-kun, Fu-chan and Kakashi-sensei now,"** Naruto answered happily.

Outside, Sasuke noticed Naruto's change of mood, and growled at her happiness. It was ok for Naruto, Sasuke thought. Naruto wasn't the one who was all alone, who had had his family murdered by his very own brother, no, he was the one who had probably never experienced anything bad in his life, and who was stupid and always happy.

It was ok for him, he didn't have a reason to be sad. (A/N Lol! *Laughs at Sasuke's BIG mistake*)

Looking up at the fuming boy, Naruto smiled brightly and walked off.

Sasuke stood there.

Sakura looked back and forth quickly, not knowing where to go. She followed after Naruto as Sasuke stormed off the other way.

Naruto grinned widely as she put her signed slip back into her back pocket. She was going to do the chuunin exams!

Fu and Gaara had told her last night, on one of their weekly meetings, that the two of them were coming to Konoha for it. They had all been overjoyed (not that Gaara showed it) and the other 5 jinchuriki had watched as the youngest jinchuriki squealed and hugged everyone.

Even Han had been caught by the excited kunoichi.

The weekly jinchuriki and bijuu meetings were fun...

So engrossed was Naruto in her musings, that she didn't notice the Hokage's grandson, Konohamaru, and his two friends Moegi and Udon until she literally tripped over the rectangular box that the three had hidden in.

Coughing as their smoke bomb went off, with too much gunpowder yet again, the excitable children begged her to play ninja with them like she had promised the week before.

"Ninja? What kind of ninja plays ninja?" Sakura asked with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

"Come on Sakura-chan," Naruto whined playfully. Konohamaru looked between the two of them and asked doubtfully.

"Naruto-niichan? Is she your," he wiggled his little finger in the air. They both looked disgusted that Konohamaru was implying that they were boyfriend and girlfriend.

"Ha!" Kyuubi laughed at Naruto hysterically from inside her mind.

"No, no, no," Naruto laughed uneasily to both the kitsune and the boy.

"Good. Because she has a really big forehead," the academy student grinned.

"You might want to run...now," Naruto warned cautiously as Sakura raised a fist and charged. Naruto followed her own advice and chased after them.

Suddenly there was a crash and the whines of Konohamaru filled the air.

"You wanna know what happens to little brats like you who crash into me?" a loud voice growled. Turning the corner, the girl yelled

"Put him down!"

"Oh yeah? What are you going to do about it?" He asked with a sneer. A stone whacked his hand, and he released the boy who fell to the floor.

Sasuke jumped down from the tree overhead as the painted boy scowled at the first.

"He is right Kankuro. Let him go," the cold voice of a young red-headed boy told the guy.

Naruto grinned manically and ran towards Gaara happily. She grabbed him and hugged him as he smiled back and fell over.

"Gaara!" she yelled enthusiastically as everyone else's jaws dropped at the sight of a Konoha shinobi hugging a murderous boy from Suna.

"Yes yes Naruto, I missed you too, but you don't need to knock me over every time we see each other," Gaara grumbled as he stood up.

"But it's fun!" she pouted as they began to walk away from the stunned ninja.

Their voices faded as the seven that stood there froze.

"Is it just me who is wondering how on _earth_ those two know each other?" the voice of Temari asked in wonder, the elder blonde who stood next to her brother Kankuro.

Everyone just shrugged.

At least it wasn't so awkward anymore.


	15. Just what

Chapter 15- Just... what

Naruto sniggered happily as they turned into an empty alley. Gaara frowned at her from beside her, wondering why she had done that.

"Oh, come on!" Naruto pouted, rolling her eyes playfully.

"I need a reason to keep sneaking out! Plus, you're here in Konoha so we have to make the best of our time together!" she reasoned, poking Gaara's arm.

He didn't reply.

"Gaara-kun?" she asked.

"You know you liked it..." Naruto said teasingly. He flushed a slightly darker pink and looked away.

She pulled her hands from his, and trailed them slowly up his chest. They tingled against Gaara's skin; she was actually here in person and not just linked through their minds... it made everything feel weird, and reactions happened that never happened to him before.

Naruto placed her hands delicately on his cheeks. This was why she had chosen a dark, deserted alley. Drawing his face around carefully until they faced each other, inches apart, the blonde closed her eyes and leant in.

Their lips met and Naruto started kissing him in earnest, neither of them sure where one person's mouth ended and the other started.

She smiled and ended the kiss, hugging him tightly before pulling away. Gaara stayed rooted to the spot with slightly darker than normal cheeks, and Naruto briefly glanced back to see what was taking him so long.

Seeing the lost expression on his face, she rolled her eyes and stepped back again to grab her boyfriend's hand.

"Come on!" she yelled enthusiastically.

"Why are you always so happy?" the red head asked grumpily.

In answer she beamed.

"Why are you always so grumpy?" Naruto retorted, and dragged him faster.

They ran back to where they had come from, Naruto realising suddenly that she had only a few minutes to get her slip back to Kakashi.

"Naruto, it is unnecessary to run. We can still make it without doing so," Gaara told her a bit unhappily as she pulled him back into the main road of Konoha.

"Now you tell me! Gaara-kun, why couldn't you have mentioned it before we ran?" she pouted at the boy.

"I did. You didn't listen," Gaara stated simply, walking calmly past the group who were still frozen where they had witnessed Naruto hug someone from another village, and Gaara not kill the blonde for doing so.

"What the hell is going on!?" Temari asked quietly to her eldest brother.

"How would I know?" he helpfully retorted.

Sakura and Sasuke were silent as they followed behind the secret (well, ish) couple, whilst Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon had vanished before this whole... _thing _started.

Frankly, Sakura sort of wished that she'd done the same.

* * *

><p>When they finally reached the training grounds (when had the five minute walk, minute's sprint, become so long?) things were no better.<p>

Naruto and Gaara insulted each other like an old married couple (where did the baka even know that killer from?) and everyone else was just silent.

Naruto paused in her teasing for a minute and leant in to whisper in Gaara's ear

"Kakashi-sensei's waiting in the tree above us. Be careful," he nodded solemnly, not even realising that his cheeks were once again a faint shade of pink.

However, Temari did and smirked. Was her little brother, a killer demon whom she loved, finally finding himself a crush?

A wary Sakura and Sasuke backed away a little at the grin on the blonde's face. They did not want to mess with her, _especially _when she was looking like that.

* * *

><p>Kakashi peered through the branches of the tree. There were his three genin, complete with slips, but who was with them?<p>

The man studied them carefully; a tall fierce girl with a large fan (long distance and close quarters probably- a wind user), a tall boy with marks on his face and something wrapped on his back (smelt of wood- a puppet user) and a shorter red head with black rings around his eyes and a brown gourd on his back (smelt like blood- he was an experienced killer, but he wasn't sure what weapon it was).

But the truly odd thing was that they were all from Suna.

The elder two, the wind and puppet users, were not socialising, but were clearly waiting with his team... probably for the third of their family?

Their sibling (most likely) was talking with Naruto about something (how did Naruto know him? It was odd; Kakashi had pegged that boy as unsociable, but here he was) and the other two in team 7 seemed left out.

But they were no threat. They were friendly- weapons down, alert but not battle ready, and chatting.

It was safe.

He jumped down from his tree and waved a friendly hello to the six people standing there.

Silence.

"What?" he asked, bemused.

"Sensei- you're- you're on time!" Sakura cried out in shock.

"Oh yes, so I am. Well, if you'd rather I came back later..." he turned around to face his tree again.

"But Sensei- the slips!" he scratched his head thoughtfully.

"Fine then... I suppose that I should collect them. Well, thanks! Ja ne!" and he was gone, back into the tree with his chakra signature concealed.

Team 7 looked at each other, then at their empty hands. People, hands, people, hands, people, Gaara...

Wait, what?

Naruto focused her attention and found her oh-so-sweet boyfriend standing there with a fist of sand dangling in the air, about to hit her. Attached to the front was a giant pair of lips.

Heading straight for her.

Whether they would kiss her or eat her, Naruto wasn't sure, but she ran anyway and Gaara followed quickly. The two Sand siblings followed after them quietly, and the four figures and a fist of sand disappeared into the distance.

The remaining genin stood there, flabbergasted (and truth be told, slightly horrified) before exchanging yet _another _shrug and walking away.

This was an interesting day. And to think, it wasn't even the afternoon yet.

* * *

><p>Gaara laughed at Naruto (who was visibly shocked at the sound) as she and Fu ran around screaming in the meeting.<p>

Utakata frowned and shook his head at the noise. Really; they were teens! They ought to be able to calm themselves.

Roshi laughed along with Gaara and slapped Utakata on the back.

**"Come on, they're just excited!" **Roshi grinned at Killer B.

**"You understand, don't you Killer B?"** the man showed his teeth happily and opened his mouth... which **Yugito promptly covered with an explosive tag.**

**"One word, one rhyme, and this goes off. Get it?" **the tall girl asked her 'captive'.

**"Of course swe-"** he replied with a muffled voice. Yugito laughed playfully and said

**"One word!" **and it exploded.

Bright pink smoke erupted directly into his mouth, and everywhere else for that matter, and 6 jinchuriki started coughing.

**"What was that for?" **Fu and Naruto yelled in sync.

Yugito sweatdropped as she saw them; mussed up hair from their dancing and pink powder covering every part of their body.

**"And how come you and Utakata aren't covered in it too?" **they yelled again.

Yugito looked down at herself, then across at Utakata as she noticed the gleaming bubble that surrounded them.

He blushed and looked at the floor, popping the bubble as he did so.

Fu and Naruto gaped at the dark haired boy. Turning to each other they wore identical evil grins.

Gaara stepped back.

**"UTAKATA'S GOT A CRUSH, UTAKATA'S GOT A CRUSH!"** they squealed, making the jinchuriki in question blush harder and send a bubble over their mouths so that they couldn't talk.

The bijuu glanced over at the sudden silence from their corner, and stifled a laugh at the sight of the two girls trying to unsuccessfully get the bubbles away from them.

They'd had it coming.

**"bmmph i hmmp ahmm pfuffpfuff!"** Naruto protested. It came out rather garbled, so Naruto held out a packet from her pocket, neatly wrapped with a bow.

Raising a slender eyebrow, the Rokubi's jinchuriki popped the bubbles.

**"Thank you!"** they cried happily. It had been a nightmare- no talking!

**"Right, present time!"** Naruto declared joyfully, handing around 8 wrapped up parcels as she spoke.

Everyone unwrapped the oblongs carefully, and Fu gasped.

**"It's lovely! Thank you so much Naru-chan!" **she yelled and threw her arms around her best friend. It was a picture, hand drawn by Naruto, of the eight of them along with the nine bijuu behind them.

Yugito smiled gratefully at the girl, before she noticed a flaw.

**"Wait, how do we get this back home? How did you get it here anyway?"** she questioned curiously.

The vivacious girl smirked.

**"Copy me, everyone," **Naruto stated calmly, and showed them the hand seals. The pictures vanished, back to the real world, and she nodded once.

Turning to Fu she asked

**"How long until you arrive?" **

**"Tomorrow!"** Fu squealed and the two of them went back to their dance routine.

Gaara rolled his eyes.

Girls. He'd never understand them.

* * *

><p>AN That was all a lead up into the next chapter... Fu arrives! And those presents are also for a prank... she's not the prank king (well, queen... monarch) of Konoha for nothing!

And thank you for the reviews! Been what, 13 hours? 3 reviews! I normally have one, or two if I'm lucky so thanks minna!


	16. The public get mentally scarred

Chapter 16- The public get mentally scarred

Thank you to Neeky-chan who made me publish this earlier- u would have got this on Monday otherwise!

Naruto opened her blue eyes as she retreated from her mindscape. She had got no sleep tonight, but it didn't matter too much since she had trained her body to stay awake for 60 hours at a time, and the time got longer with every late night.

There were two days until the exam, and Fu was arriving today!

**"Fu's arriving today!" **she yelled at her resident demon.

**"So I heard. All night long. Now, if you'll excuse me, I am going to sleep," **the weary Kyuubi replied.

Naruto sweatdropped. This was the all powerful, the great, Kyuubi no Yoko?

From her mind, one sleepy eye opened and Kyuubi chuckled.

**"Speak for yourself, oh mighty Kami no Hoshi," **Naruto looked at her in confusion.

**"Nani?"** she asked.

The kitsune just motioned with her head towards the girl's outfit.

She looked down to see what her friend was on about, and saw...

**"NANI!? What happened?" **the blonde screeched loudly. Kyuubi winced at the head-splitting sound and covered her ears with two tails.

**"You performed the jutsu whilst having it on you. I suggest you wash it off quickly. Now leave me alone,"**

Grumbling at the unhelpful demon irritatedly, Naruto tried to wash it off with her favourite water jutsu- the one that she used for cleaning.

Nothing happened.

Again she tried.

Nothing.

"GAAH!" She shouted. Birds fluttered from the branches and animals whined at the sound. Nearby shinobi winced and quickly escaped the area.

It wouldn't come off.

Oh well, she would just henge into her normal outfit and wash it off later. Naruto used her henge signs and jumped off to the training ground, whistling a happy tune to pass the time until she met Fu. The green haired girl had said that she would arrive in Konoha for about 8 o'clock, so Naruto was planning to meet her at the entrance to the village.

And take her with her on their first mission of course.

So caught up was she with her thoughts, Naruto didn't notice the curious glances given from every person she passed, or the outright snickers from a few daring villagers.

She was lost in a world of her own making as she made her way to where Gaara was staying, a slight detour on the way to the meeting place of her team since she wanted to train with spar with her boyfriend and show him in real life the earth jutsus that he had taught her.

Naruto landed daintily on the porch in front of the Subaku sibling's residence. She knocked once on the door and waited.

"NO, Kankuro, leave the door alone. I'll get it, you'd just scare them away," a voice angrily called from inside.

"And you won't?" came the other voice mockingly.

Naruto grinned as she recognised the voices to be Temari and Kankuro; Gaara's elder siblings.

The door swung open at that moment to reveal Temari standing there in her normal outfit with her oversized fan by her side.

"Well? What do you want?" she demanded Naruto.

"Please can you get Gaara?" the jinchuriki answered politely. She didn't want to make Gaara's sister angry- she had seen how scared Kankuro was... Gaara was just lucky that Temari was too frightened of him to get properly angry at him.

"He's upstairs," Temari said, then walked away, leaving the door open for Naruto to walk into. She stepped through the doorway, and jumped quickly up the stairs.

"GAARA!" She hollered, running into a bedroom. Inside she found... a semi-naked Kankuro. He looked up, startled, and when he saw that there was a blonde guy in his room, whilst he was dressed like that with no face paint... let's just say that Naruto ran out again as fast as she could and found the _right_ bedroom this time.

Banging on the door, she opened it and ran in. Grabbing a startled Gaara by the hand, the blonde dragged them both past Temari, who had her hand raised to knock on the door, into the street and attempted to run towards the gate to Konoha.

"Naruto!" Gaara shouted, pulling her arm close to him and looking her in the eye.

"I know Fu is arriving, but I am not. Going. Out. Like. This," he said clearly, faces centimetres apart.

"Why, what's wrong, Gaara-kun?" she asked cutely, fluttering her eyelashes at him.

"I'm in a towel, Naruto," he stated.

Silence.

"Oh," she answered, thinking face on. Then a devious grin passed over her features, causing Gaara to try and back away. He knew that look.

"And what's wrong with that?" she whispered, yanking his arm closer and kissing him fiercely.

"A lot," pant "Of things," he answered in between kisses.

"Meanie. Fine then, I'll meet Fu by myself. Bye!" she cried, teasingly leaning in, but running back and away to the gate before their lips touched.

Gaara stood there, alone in the street, in a towel.

Needless to say, people passing by gave him a wide berth.

* * *

><p>Temari frowned.<p>

The boy from yesterday, 'Naruto', had turned up at the door. She had been surprised, and quite suspicious, to see him arrive at this hour- even though Gaara did not need sleep like a regular person, he might be asleep right now...

And he wouldn't be happy if someone (even a friend) woke him up.

Should she have stopped Naruto?

A girly shriek could be heard from upstairs, deciding Temari's mind for her. What was wrong? Had Naruto been hurt?

Racing up the stairs two at a time, the girl drew out two kunai since her fan was somewhere else currently, and peeked around the corner.

There was nothing but the echo of two slammed wooden doors as she took in the hallway.

Temari knocked hastily on the first door.

"Kankuro? Are you alright? I'm coming in," she called out worriedly.

"Eek! No, don't do that! I'm- I'm not wearing much!" he squeaked back, and his elder sister rolled her eyes at him.

He hadn't changed much in all his years.

"Gaara? Are you al-" Naruto ran out of the door, clutching her baby brother's hand, and ran down the stairs.

"-right," she finished, feeling a bit stupid talking to thin air.

Temari wondered where the strange boy was planning on going with Gaara in a towel.

Hopefully nowhere public- or for that matter, anywhere out of the building. But it was a bit late for that.

* * *

><p>Naruto ran towards the gate. It was 5 to 8; Fu would arrive any minute... her team. The meeting was meant to start at 5 today- Kakashi would be arriving at eight!<p>

**"Oh well. I'll just have to be quick," **she thought to herself.

Naruto reached the gate quickly, eager to meet Fu in real life rather than the mindscape- it was so different!

She was finally going to meet her best friend.

* * *

><p>AN Sorry! I went away, start of school, homework, laziness... bout time I wrote this actually! It's been 2 and a half weeks! And yes, it is super short, but the dreaded disease of writers block caught up with me, and I think that if I had continued it would have got worse and worse through the chapter, and the end result would have been horrific.

I wanted to end it here!

Also, I would update this weekend, but I have scout camp so I get back late Sunday. Don't worry though- I'll try and find time to write in my notebook whilst there :-) just 4 u people


	17. Neon pink!

I'm so sorry! My only excuse is laziness… and a new obsession with Dr Who, and so I've been neglecting this… No more!

Peace offering? I'm updating and will do so again tomorrow? Are we good?

*ducks Naruto manga books* fine then. If that's how you want it to be, u'll only get one today!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I hold the power… fine, fine. I'll update today and tomorrow… but only for reviews!

Chapter 17- Neon pink!

Fu bounced down the worn path, annoying both of her teammates with her constant energy.

"Fu, please will you stop that?!" Katsu begged his teammate yet again.

Really, he thought, the energy Fu had even now, after 5 hours of solid travel, was astounding. In fact, she seemed more hyper now than when she started.

"Why are you so excited anyway?" the brunette questioned, blue eyes bright and curious as he looked upon the jinchuriki of the team.

Fu smiled widely, and motioned zipping her lips. Oh. So she didn't want to tell.

"Come on, you can tell me! I'm your best friend, aren't I?" he asked as he cautiously edged closer to her.

Fu's orange eyes sparkled with mischief as she danced away from him lithely, and backed off down the path.

"Only if you can catch me!" she yelled over her shoulder, sprinting across the soil with her green hair flying.

"You bet I will!" Katsu yelled in return, chasing her with a massive grin on his face. He liked Fu; she was so easy and fun to be around. Unlike the last member of their team.

Yukio frowned at his misfortune; he was stuck with a pair of idiot teammates who wanted to mess around with only two days left to prepare for the exams.

Plus, to add injury to insult, Fu had for some reason turned up with pink covering almost every part of her. The only parts that had stayed their original colour were her bangs (still an eye watering shade of green) and her hairclip (although it had been pink in the first place, at least it was better than a neon pink that the rest of her seemed to be).

He would separate off as soon as possible- he would not stay to be seen with a _pink_ teammate.

Never.

* * *

><p>Naruto waved to the two chuunin by the gate, Kotetsu and Izumo, as she raced out of the village and down the path.<p>

"Hiya!" she yelled as she zoomed past.

"Naruto, you need per-" Kotetsu started, but she was out of earshot.

"-mission... oh well," he finished, staring at the place where Naruto had vanished into.

Oops.

* * *

><p>Fu grinned happily as the gates of Konoha came into sight. She was almost there- there was just about 5 minutes walk to the village hidden in the leaf, where Naruto was.<p>

Or in her case, two minute's run.

"Come one slowcoaches!" she yelled to seemingly thin air. A reply bounced back, from the distant figure of Katsu.

"Just slow down! You," pant "are" more panting "crazy!" Fu laughed harder, and sped on and away from the annoyed-but-amused-despite-himself Katsu, and the brooding Yukio whom she could practically see rolling his eyes at their behaviour.

The brown haired boy that chased Fu from far behind grinned as well. These games were fun, even if he always ended up far, far away from his opponent. She was _way _too quick for him to ever catch up wi-

"Oof!" he gasped as someone crashed into him. Dazed, they fell down to the ground and looked at each other. The guy that he had crashed into jumped back to his feet and held out a hand.

"Sorry! I guess I wasn't looking where I was going," he told Katsu guiltily. The brunette beamed back at the boy, and grabbed a tan hand to pull himself back up.

"Don't worry, I wasn't looking either," he admitted, taking in the other's bright blonde hair, cerulean eyes and disturbingly pink appearance.

**"Kind of like Fu's,"** he thought to himself.

"Why were you in such a hurry anyway?" Katsu inquired curiously. The guy laughed and replied

"I'm waiting for a friend to arrive… I'm a bit overexcited…" he looked up hopefully.

"Have you seen her? Orange eyes, green hair, possibly covered in neon pink…" he trailed off.

"Yeah, she's my teammate, who you just ran past," Katsu laughed, and the other boy jerked his head up.

"Damn! Well, nice meeting you!" he called, already running back the way he came.

The boy grinned in return and stood still. Follow the strange boy… or be left with Yukio. Stranger, Yukio, stranger, Yukio.

"Wait!" Katsu cried, following the neon pink boy.

* * *

><p>Fu kept on going towards her best friend's home, pausing only when she saw a blurred figure zoom past.<p>

Had it been Naruto? She wasn't sure, and so Fu just shrugged her shoulders and ran on.

It wasn't until about a minute later that she stopped, hearing a familiar voice call her name from somewhere behind her. Confused, the green haired girl turned around and grinned happily at the sight of Naruto sprinting towards her from the direction of her teammates.

"Naru-chan!"

"Fu-chan!"

The two girls squealed enthusiastically as they hugged in the middle of the forest. They giggled, and pulled apart to examine the other in real life. It _should _be the same as in the mindscapes, but who knew. Naruto was weird.

"Umm…" the jinchuriki said at exactly the same time.

"Youarecompletelycoveredinpink,"

Both had glanced down at themselves as they realised what the other girl had said.

"Ahh! Why am I pink!" they yelled, still in unison as they finally noticed what was covering them.

"I henged this morning! Why is my henge pink as well?!" Naruto despaired, staring at neon clothes.

"You henged? Why?" Fu asked curiously, ignoring her clothes for now.

"Uh- Fu? Everyone in Konoha thinks I'm a boy…" the blonde told her clueless companion.

"Oh… why?" she asked slowly, looking at the _neon pink _appearance of her mate. The boy form of Naruto was odd; the same colour hair but shorter, same colour skin but less muscular, same face but with a couple of changed features…

"Oh my god!" Fu exclaimed, realising something.

"What is it?" Naruto answered, confused.

"You have no boobs!"

Silence reigned supreme as what Fu had just said registered in both of their minds.

Then both of them started laughing harder than they had ever done before, the humour only intensified when Katsu ran up and asked what was so funny.

Oh dear.

* * *

><p>Kakashi stared in bewilderment as Naruto turned up late, neon pink and laughing so hard he was crying.<p>

Along with a green haired, neon pink girl who was also crying with laughter.

"Um… Naruto?" he asked, stepping forwards to his student.

"What's going on?" Naruto and the girl exchanged looks and burst into yet more peals of laughter. Kakashi wasn't sure what was so funny, but it didn't seem like he was going to get an answer and so he continued with another obvious question.

"Why are you both pink?" the blonde and the girl who had arrived with him both stopped laughing and became angry. Synchronised, they yelled

"I am going to kill Yugito!" Kakashi's eyebrows shot up in surprise; he wasn't expecting that answer.

"Ok… How about we go get our missions, hmm?"

* * *

><p>Sarutobi wasn't quite sure what he was expecting when he saw Team 7 outside of his window, finishing off their missions for the day.<p>

However, he was certain that seeing three jinchuriki, two of them neon pink (the third only partly pink) was not right.

Since when were there even three jinchuriki in Konoha?

* * *

><p>Sasuke glared at the blonde baka. Who were these people who Naruto had decided could just join their team?<p>

And to make matters worse, they were ignoring him and speaking only to Naruto. How dare they ignore him? Naruto was an idiot, the dead last, and so the obviously powerful people who were in Konoha for the chuunin exams (things that went right over an idiot like Naruto's head) should speak to him!

Why? What had Naruto ever done to deserve their respect?

He, as the last Uchiha, deserved power and respect in order to kill his traitorous brother. And he would get the respect that he deserved.


End file.
